After a long-running dispute with the Ministry of Education, King’s High School had its roll capped at 1035 in 2016 and an enrolment zone introduced.
King’s rector Nick McIvor said the school fought the enrolment scheme when it was reviewed in September last year and the ministry agreed to drop it.
The ministry’s decision comes as the school’s roll has dropped from 1060 in 2016 to 845 last year.
The rolls at other Dunedin secondary schools have largely remained steady over the past five years.
Of the larger schools, only Queen’s High School, which has grown 38%, and Logan Park High School, which has grown 24%, have had significant growth.
The enrolment scheme was redundant, Mr McIvor said.
"We always felt it was an odd situation and quite a strong position taken by the ministry.
"The ceiling that was set to then trigger the enrolment scheme was quite high.
"The result of that has been right now we have a majority of out-of-zone families.
"We continue to have boys coming from all over Dunedin, even while the zone is in place."
In 2016 the school’s roll had grown because of the hard work it had done to provide a quality education, he said.
Otago Boys’ High School rector Richard Hall said the change indicated there was not a need for King’s to have a zone because all schools in Dunedin were providing a strong education.
"I would say it’s a positive really.
"In my experience enrolment zones are enforced by the ministry when there is an imbalance and my initial impression without too much thought is that there is a balance back in secondary school education in Dunedin."
Ministry south leader Nancy Bell said it and the King’s board agreed the scheme was no longer required to manage the risk of overcrowding.
