Schools in the southern regions have recorded a similar increase in enrolment numbers as the rest of the nation and principals are welcoming the challenge that comes with a bigger roll.
The Ministry of Education’s provisional rolls for Otago and Southland in 2024 showed an increase of 1%, equivalent to 486 children, from provisional rolls for 2023.
Mid-year rolls for this year had a year-on-year increase from 2022 in Otago of 2% or 709 children.
Wakatipu High School, in Queenstown, had a roll of 1343 and had grown by 30% since 2020. Mount Aspiring College, in Wanaka, had gone from 1050 in 2021 to an anticipated roll of 1280 for 2024.
Wakatipu High School principal Oded Nathan said the increased roll created pressures on staff and classrooms. The increase was down to migration, he said.
Many pupils were arriving with limited understanding of the curriculum and English was not their first language. An excellent education could still be had at the school, he said.
A new school had been built over the past few years with a capacity of 1625 and with the rate of growth it would be full in three years, Mr Nathan said.
Mount Aspiring College principal Nicola Jacobsen
said the school had seen an influx of international pupils and the challenge had been ensuring that they were appropriately supported if English was their second language.
"So, making sure there is good resourcing around the level of English they’re coming into kura [school] with but also understanding what their goals are," she said.
"They might be an emergent learner or need English for academic purposes — they might be fluent but need support to grasp the language."
So far, the school had relied on the experience of its teachers to cater for international pupils.
"There’s no support that you can call on other than using the funding that you have maybe for some teacher aid support.
"But ultimately you’re reliant on the experience of teachers to be able to work with students who have English as a second language."
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association chairman and South Otago High School (SOHS) principal Mike Wright said his school was looking at putting an extra year 9 classroom for 2024 to accommodate the increase in enrolments.
"Typically, we’ve sat at about that 100 mark for year 9s with between 24 and 27 pupils in those classes, but for next year the numbers are looking such that we need an extra classroom."
As well as year 9s, there had been a larger retention in the senior school too, he said.
He said the school had just farewelled a small cohort of 51 year 13 pupils but was expecting a larger year 13 cohort next year with many of the 85 year 12 pupils returning.
There had also been a growth in the Samoan and Pasifika community at the school.
A bigger roll meant more opportunities for the pupils and the wider community, Mr Wright said.
