Both special character schools — Roncalli College and Craighead Diocesan School — have indicated they have reached their roll capacities.
Roncalli College principal Chris Comeau said the school had hit its 520 student cap.
"The number is consistent with previous years but we have had to decline more applications this year due to lack of capacity. We have closed enrolments for 2025.
"I think the increase in demand is due to new families moving into the region and also a desire for Catholic education.
"The only way we would be able to accept more students is if we were granted a roll increase. However, that is unlikely to happen.
"I think we are at the right size."
According to the Ministry of Education school roll data, Roncalli had hovered above the 510 students mark for four of the past five years, only dropping below 500 students in 2022.
Craighead Diocesan School principal Lara Hearn-Rollo said Craighead was above capacity and had been directed by the ministry to reduce its roll.
"We have a roll cap of 380 but we are currently over that cap.
"The ministry have asked us to manage that down, so we are doing that at entry points like year 7 and 9.
"It’s really hard [to turn girls away]. Under our enrolment scheme it often means we cannot bring in new families to the school, particularly at year 9."
She said the school was 20-30 students over capacity but believed that was not an issue.
"We’ve got the capacity. Our auditorium would take 450 and when we look at our buildings the capacity is 450.
"If you’ve got those bigger numbers it does allow you to have more in the way of options you can offer."
In the past five years Craighead was below the 380 cap twice; in 2021 the school recorded 379 students and 368 students in 2019, peaking at 414 students last year.
This year, Mountainview High School entered into its second year of zoning. It was the first Timaru secondary school to have a zone placed on it.
Principal Kenny Diamond said the school appeared to be bouncing back after last year, when enrolments were down.
"There has been an adjustment period especially being the first to be zoned. That’s something the community isn’t used to still.
"We would normally get a number of enrolments in January. Those enrolments didn’t eventuate because our enrolment period finished in October and if you are out of the zone you can’t enrol.
"They are back up again this year, back to where they probably were pre-zone, so that could be an indicator that messaging with the community is working and they are starting to understand how the out-of-zone enrolments work."
He said for next year it would still have quite a number of out-of-zone places available.
"We have a maximum size of 512, that’s our capacity. We have been at capacity; we started last year at 560 and the zone has gradually cut that down.
"We’re expecting next year to be anywhere from around 512 to 525, which will be good."
Mr Diamond said the zone had proved challenging for not only the school but the wider community.
"I just think people aren’t used to it. It’s a new thing for South Canterbury. It’s not like Auckland or Christchurch where all the schools are zoned and have been for a long time.
"One of the great things about Timaru is kids have always had choice, whether you want single-sex education or co-ed or Catholic education. Those choices have always existed.
"There’s an element now of that choice being taken away for some of those students. That has been difficult for some parents and members of the community to understand.
"I don’t want to turn any kid away. I think every kid should have the right to go to any school they want to go to but unfortunately we just got to the point where we were overcrowded and [the] ministry felt the best solution was to look at an enrolment zone. It is what it is."
For Timaru’s two single-sex schools it was looking like business as usual.
Timaru Boys’ High School rector Dave Thorp said previous forecasts had predicted there would be fewer and fewer teenagers in Timaru.
"It seems that was wrong. I’m not 100% sure where they come from but there are good numbers in the primary schools.
"Last year we had 200 kids enrol which was a record for us. We probably hadn’t seen numbers like that for 30 years.
"This year we may not get that much but we’re looking at being within only 20-30 of that, so maybe 170 to 180 new enrolments. That’s what we’re thinking."
The school would still have plenty of room, he said.
"At one stage we were a much bigger school with 800 or so. We’re sitting on ... around 720 but what happens over the year is when a whole lot of work comes up for the year 12 and 13s they sometimes leave in the middle of the year and we drop below 700."
Timaru Girls’ High School principal Deb Hales said the roll was looking good.
"Our year 9 and 10 cohorts are swelling. We’ve had quite a few enrolments come in during the year.
"We’re definitely not at capacity but the roll is looking healthy and the enrolments are coming in.
"For year 9 we’re sitting at around 70 at the moment but we’ll have a few more come in between now and the end of the year."
She said the school roll was sitting at about 460 students.
"There was a real dip a couple years back where there were significantly less year 8 girls in town than boys and all the schools knew about that.
"Last year I think there were more year 8 girls but I think there is a bit of a dip again this year from what our PA tells us when looking at the current demographics.
"We’re happy hovering around that 460 mark. Pushing to 500 would be ideal as it would just give us more options for staffing and options for resourcing. It’s been a while since we’ve been at 500 but that would be awesome."
