Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Otepoti board of trustees announced yesterday its proposal to move into the former High Street School premises in Mornington.
Board chairwoman Nicky Fredericks said the board was in the process of writing an official letter to the Ministry of Education, requesting permission to relocate the Fairfield-based Maori immersion school.
The announcement comes after several months of consultation with the Fairfield and Mornington communities, and investigations into the feasibility of the move.
The High Street School board of trustees applied to the ministry last year to close its 123-year-old school because of severely declining rolls.
The decile 7, years 1 to 6 contributing school had 106 pupils in 2006, but the roll had declined to just 21 when the school closed for the year in December.
It was officially closed on February 28 this year, but no pupils had returned to the school for term 1.
Kura kaupapa principal Amiria Stirling said the school board of trustees consulted the Maori community in Dunedin last year and found many parents were not sending their pupils to the Fairfield school because it was not sufficiently accessible - it was not on the way to work for many.
The kura was fortunate because the ministry had not entered the High Street property into the disposal process, which allowed the board to consider its use as an alternative location.
Although some relocatable buildings had been removed and sent to Christchurch after the earthquake, High Street School had three classrooms remaining - still plenty of room for the kura's nine pupils, Miss Stirling said.
Ms Fredericks said the timeframe for the relocation had not yet been discussed. The board would now wait for the Ministry of Education's approval to relocate.
