Top school hits out at transfers to competitor

Hannah Laity, 17, says moving to King's College has opened up 'so many things'. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A top Auckland girls' school is discouraging parents from moving their children to another top private school.

Diocesan School for Girls has sent home at least two newsletters warning parents of the "backward" effects of changing schools at senior level.

Each year, a number of Diocesan students enrol at Auckland private school King's College.

Traditionally an all-boys' school, King's offers up to 140 places for girls in year 12 and 13.

A woman whose daughter is at Diocesan contacted the Herald saying she found the school's newsletters appalling.

"The letters have both attempted to talk generally about a change of school. But the classic line regarding schools now accepting girls at senior level - which have previously been all boys' schools - gives it away," she said.

"If Dio were the better school, the opinions of girls who have done the switch would speak for themselves and numbers applying to King's would decrease rather than increase."

One of the newsletters says Diocesan NCEA pass rates are above 97 per cent at each year level.

"Why might this be so? In short, girls achieve higher academic results in an all-girls environment," the newsletter reads.

"Girls do not achieve as highly in mixed-gender schools and this is compounded by the fact that many schools now accepting girls have previously been all-boys schools and want to maintain a predominance of boys at senior level."

Dio said King's College was not named in either of the newsletters.

Principal Heather McRae said the newsletters were intended to applaud parents' decisions to send their children to Dio.

"The academic achievement results and school environment are outstanding and we clearly state and celebrate our points of difference," she said.

Hannah Laity, 17, is now in Year 13 at King's after switching from Dio last year. She said she was treated somewhat differently when it was found out that she would be leaving the school.

"If they [teachers] knew that you were going to King's, they'd kind of write you off for the rest of the year.

"They wouldn't give you the same opportunities as someone who's staying at Dio."

Miss Laity said she had enjoyed many benefits in making the move to King's.

"I'm so happy I left now. It's completely opened up so many other things and it's a lot less PC and the teachers are a lot stricter and you get brought up a lot fairer and stricter."

King's headmaster, Bradley Fenner, said he did not want to comment on what other schools were saying to its students via newsletters.

King's did not poach students from other schools, Mr Fenner said, but simply opened its doors to those who wanted to enrol.

"We do draw widely and that's one of our aims, that we want to have a broad intake - an intake that reflects the broad cross-section of New Zealand society."