Rezoning means school of near-800 must cut growth

An Auckland primary school is objecting to a proposed zone change which would end a long association with Balmoral Intermediate for some families.

About 20 families at Edendale School in Sandringham will no longer be able to send their intermediate-aged children to Balmoral School if the rezoning goes ahead, breaking a near half-century tradition.

The Ministry of Education has told Balmoral School, a full primary school that includes Years 7 and 8, that it must take action to control its growth.

The school roll has mushroomed from close to 300 pupils in 1999 to a predicted 780 pupils by the end of this year.

Principal Mike O'Reilly said the decile-eight school had resisted earlier pressure to cap its growth but now acknowledged the numbers were getting away.

"We've had to get new buildings ... It's putting pressure on our drains, our electrical supply."

Mr O'Reilly said nearby intermediate schools were able to pick up the extra pupils.

"They are perfectly good schools with good ERO [Education Review Office] reviews and well respected in the community."

The intermediate schools most likely to be affected yesterday reported they had no problem taking extra students.

Phil Crawford, chairman of Edendale School's board of trustees, said families in the southwestern part of the Balmoral zone would now have to send their children to Kowhai Intermediate which would mean travelling about an extra kilometre.

Mr Crawford said it would harm the traditional school network of 52 years between Edendale and Balmoral and the extra distance over busy roads raised safety issues.

He did not know why Balmoral could not make its cuts on the other boundaries, like where families lived closer to Kowhai Intermediate.

But Mr O'Reilly said Balmoral was possibly the only school in the country with two zones - one for its primary pupils and another for the intermediate pupils.

The school could not carve back its intermediate enrolment zone in the areas close to Kowhai Intermediate as they remained part of its primary school zone.

Mr O'Reilly said care was taken when trimming the zones and the impact on the southwestern area was minimised as much as possible.

* A public meeting will be held tomorrow at 7.30pm to discuss the proposed zone changes at Balmoral School.