Administration

Final decision to cancel Hato Petera integration agreement

<h2>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Despite all efforts to find a way of keeping the school going&comma; the reality is that it is no longer able to provide a quality of education&comma;” Chris Hipkins said&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<h3>Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced the cancellation of the integration agreement for Hato Petera College&comma; effective today&period;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>This view is consistent with ERO’s October 2017 report on the College&comma; which was established in 1928 as a private school and became a state integrated school in 1981&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The cancellation of the integration agreement for Hato Petera is in mutual agreement with the Proprietor&comma; the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Auckland&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Closing schools is never an easy decision&period; But the roll has fluctuated between 1 and 5 this year&comma; down from around 20 last year and just under 50 in 2016&comma; and there are limited <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> for the students to have social interaction with peers&period; The classroom environment is lonely despite the best intentions of the staff&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the 1990s between 100 and 200 students attended the school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A further round of consultation has been undertaken by the Commissioner since my interim decision at the beginning of June that the school’s integration agreement should be cancelled&comma;” Chris Hipkins said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The results of this consultation have confirmed my interim view&period; The Hato Petera College that exists today is much diminished from the school it was in the past&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Today’s announcement&comma; while sad for those involved&comma; will end a period of uncertainty for students and staff&period; The Ministry of Education and the Proprietor will provide assistance as needed to help the remaining students enroll at other schools&period; The Ministry and PPTA will also work with current staff&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Hato Petera College has a proud history and tradition of supporting M&amacr;ori through providing a rich and quality education&period; However&comma; in recent years Catholic M&amacr;ori students have chosen to enrol in other Catholic colleges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Diocese owns the land&comma; Chris Hipkins said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They have indicated to me they would like it to continue to be used for educational purposes consistent with the original deed of gift from the Crown&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is now for them to discuss the next steps with the Ministry of Education&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Proprietor initially received 43 submissions from wh&amacr;nau&comma; past students&comma; and staff&period; They tended to focus on the College’s history and the pride of former pupils&comma; but not on solutions to the issues the school has been facing in recent times&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Ministry of Education consulted 18 schools and 17 sector groups&period;  <&sol;p>&NewLine;

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