Notes from Year 7&8 info evening 24 November 2021 

7.30pm


Questions from attendees and answer by the board:


Q: Do you know what part of the Ridgway zone would not be in the SWIS zone?

A: While SWIS/MoE are unable to confirm this at the moment, we understand it will at least be the part that is within the Berhampore School zone


Q: Is this regardless of what Ridgway decides to do? just trying to understand if some children would end up being 'school-less'.


A: no year 7&8 would be school-less, MoE cannot allow that to happen. If we decide to become a contributing school, MoE will have to consider in their decision on the SWIS zone and our application how this would affect the network. So in the end it will be up to MoE to decide on Ridgway’s application (if we make one) and the SWIS zoning.


Q: What are the staff’s views?

A: There is a variety of views on the staff both for and against the proposal


Q: When is the SWIS rezoning decision going to be made? When next year?

A: We understand they will consult early next year and then the decision will be for MoE to make. We don't know when the zoning will come into effect but don’t think it will be before start 2023


Q: Are any of the current Ridgway staff interested in and/or specialise in teaching Year 7-8s?

A: Yes a number of them


Q: Why was Ridgway made a full primary in the first place? It was a contributing school in the past

A: We are not sure, parents wanted their children to stay in the community and the school had space to accommodate years 7&8. SWIS was not as attractive an option as it is now.


Q: Is it fair to assume if the Ridgway school-zone is not included in the SWIS zone - then Ridgway's issues with retaining Year 7-8s will be reduced?

A: Yes we anticipate that would be the case as numbers won’t fluctuate so much and more tamariki will stay which will cause others to stay too.


Q: If years 7 and 8 at Ridgway remains, would it continue as it is or would there be any opportunity to invest in it in order to retain more year 7 and 8s?

A: Funding is per child so no additional funding would be available from MoE. In terms of investing resources and building the curriculum, yes stability in numbers and a larger cohort at Y7&8 would help us to maintain all elements of our curriculum year to year.  The advantage of being a smaller school is that we can, and do to some extent each year, be flexible and responsive to the needs and interests of our students and adjust our curriculum accordingly. But the current year 7&8 curriculum and activities at Ridgway are just as good as SWIS so it does not necessarily need substantial change.
We would be keen to hear from the community on how we could improve the year 7&8 experience if more children stay.


Q: What has held back proactive promotion of the Y7&8 proposition? Our preference was for our Y6 daughter to stay but it was hard to convince her given uncertainty about what Y7&8 would be like for her.

A: The school already provides information for year 6 going into year 7. But we can consider earlier information evenings and we are keen to hear from the community what else they need regarding information on year 7&8.  


Q: Has there been any investigation yet into the reasons why parents choose SWIS or Ridgway for Y7&8? This information would seem to be crucial for deciding whether Y7&8 numbers can be stabilised.

A: There have been lots of answers in the survey. Students have also answered the survey.


Q: What are the activities and options available to Year 7-8s to prepare them for Secondary? Rather than just promotion - I'm more interested in knowing about the learning programme offered...

A: Same curriculum as in intermediates, go to technology, have camps etc


Q: It sounds to me like a major issue is that the new school building will just not have capacity for Y7&8s - how did that happen? Given that situation, is retaining Y7&8 even possible?

A: The new build figures were calculated by MoE based on their roll projections but there’s not much give in that. The design is done so future classrooms can be added but we’d have to be over capacity for a while before we get more funding given how hard it was to get the rebuild funding in the first place.

With Ridgway’s new zone there is some ability for the school to manage numbers.

However, the size of the building and the space available for Y7&8 is not the driver for this consultation.
Mostly it’s the issue of fluctuating numbers, low numbers staying, hence management issues around resourcing/staffing. The SWIS zone proposal is currently the main consideration as we need to understand which way we should advocate to MoE around SWIS zoning. Now that we know from SWIS that it is possible the choice of Ridgway plus SWIS for our whole zone into the future may be removed, we need to understand which way to advocate.  If parents at Ridgway prefer having year 7&8 then great, but this decision may risk that for some in our zone there may be no choice re going to SWIS any longer. If we know that this is what the Ridgway community prefers then we know what outcome to support. We’ll work with the SWIS board/principal but may have limited ability to influence their zone outcome.

Another consideration is the anxiety and stress in year 6 for whanau and children deciding whether to go or stay. Teachers try to reduce this as much as they can but there is only so much they can do and they find the uncertainty unsettling for some students (and also the cohort who stays at Ridgway). 


Q: If the outcome of SWIS’s, or Ridgway’s process, is for year 7 & 8 to remain, could we retain the prefabs to house them to fit them in?

A: No they are MoE’s temporary buildings and will be removed and we don’t think we need them with the new building. Space in the new building is not the driver to become a contributing school. Even if the roll is sustained or grows there will be room for the Year 7&8s in the new building (as well as retaining Ruru).


Q: If years 7 and 8 at Ridgway remains, would it continue as it is or would there be any opportunity to invest in it in order to retain more year 7 and 8s?

A: We are keen to hear from the community what else we could do to retain year 7&8.


Q: If the school remains a full primary would Ruru extend to year 7-8?

A: Not at the moment due to Ruru then having such a large age range but still have opportunity for French continued learning in year 7&8


Q: Is there an opportunity to reach out to other contributing schools to have other kids come just for year 7 and 8?

A: We would not take out of zone year 7&8 unless we have a significant role decrease and need to advertise that we have places. We have an enrollment scheme and would take those with priority first (which includes students from Ruru). 


Q: What’s the retention rate like going into 2022?

A: For next year we have 29 children who have indicated they will stay in Year 7 and 8 (20 of these are year 6 who are staying) 


Q: Will there be any further investigation into reasons for choosing SWIS over Ridgway for Y7?

A: We will do survey with students yr 4 up


Comment: It seems in terms of providing a good overall educational outcome for everyone, teachers and children alike, that it would be best to do what we can to ensure there is more certainty in the rolls both for Ridgway and SWIS. 

Our own preferences aside, in terms of a better outcome for everyone should we be looking for an outcome that means both schools can be clearer about their rolls?


Comment: definitely agree enrolment zones should be coordinated by a central body rather than determined by individual schools

Agree with Kathryn, the time around making that year 7 decision was the worst part of our Ridgway experience to date.

A: This is important to note as it is the experience of lots of families.  It's a real shame that the final experience of Ridgway is not a positive one for many children leaving at Year 6.


Q: If children from Ruru want to stay at Ridgway (and reintegrate the mainstream classes), will it be required for them to be in Ridgway zone? Or would the zoning exception for Ruru extend for those who would like to stay at Ridgway?

A: They can stay for year 7&8 even if out of zone if they have attended Ruru until then.


Q: Is the Board in direct contact with the SWIS Board to try and get to an easier co-existence outside formal consultation processes?

A: Not yet, we will get in touch with them. Kathryn is in regular contact with the SWIS principal and also the Kahui Ako across schools in Southern Wellington meet regularly. This group specifically deals with how students transition from ECE through the schooling system in Southern Wellington and how to make this transition as smooth as possible. However, we are limited in how much we can support "transitions" to SWIS when we are a full primary.


Comment: Anecdotally, I've met tons of kids in this neighbourhood who shift to SWIS or stay at Ridgway. It seems very friend driven, as mentioned. 


Q: What was the main feedback last time this was proposed - was there a clear community preference? I understand it was last year or the year before?

A: This was briefly raised at the fair stall and in a newsletter but no consultation done or feedback received from parents at the time.



MoST Content Management V3.0.8634