Declining student rolls in Wellington is causing concern for some, with 78% of schools in the capital having fewer students than they did in 2019.
Rolleston College near Christchurch has nearly tripled student numbers since 2019, with the school in urgent need of more space.
In 2019, the school had 695 students. This year, the school will have enough staff to teach 1966 students.
“I think the biggest contributing factor is the fact that Rolleston is a fantastic place to live – as is all of Selwyn – and with more green space being developed into housing that’s affordable with great facilities, it just means more people are moving to the area,” Rolleston College principal Rachel Skelton said.
According to 2023 Census data, Selwyn district is the fastest-growing area in the country.
“In order to keep up with that growth again, I think an [education] plan’s really important and I think another high school is really important as well,” Skelton said.
In 2024, a building with capacity to hold 700 students was opened while a second campus is being built 2.5km down the road.
Skelton is calling for the Ministry of Education to invest in building a range of facilities at the new site – and not just standard classrooms but specialist spaces for teaching subjects like the arts, as well as a wharenui (communal house).
“They really need to think about all of the New Zealand curriculum… it isn’t just about having classroom space, it’s about the types of classrooms.”
In a statement, the Ministry of Education’s operations and integration leader Sean Teddy told 1News the Government agency works with schools experiencing roll pressure to decide what actions should be taken, such as a change in the school’s enrolment scheme, which covers the area surrounding the school where students need to live to be eligible to attend the school.
“When non-property solutions such as enrolment schemes have been exhausted, we may look to add roll growth classrooms at a school or in some circumstances, in areas of rapid and sustained growth, we may look to establish a new school within the network,” Teddy said.
In 2024, Ministry of Education data showed there was a national increase in primary schools requesting more funding to respond to roll growth. The increase was minimal for the secondary school sector.
The number of pre-fabricated buildings in schools increased in 2024 to 147, up from 105 in 2023.
The Ministry of Education states these spaces can be used during a construction project as well as in response to an increase in students attending a school. Leased spaces or existing school facilities are also sometimes used as temporary classroom space.
Capital in decline
It’s a different story in Wellington, where 78% of schools have fewer students than they did in 2019, according to the latest data available from 2023.
Education Counts data shows out of 81 schools in Wellington City, 63 have roll reductions and 18 have roll increases.
Three schools have a roll that’s reduced by more than 100 students since 2019, and several other schools are nearing that.
Some schools’ student rolls in the city are dwindling.
“When we look at the birth cohorts from 2010, there’s been a decline in numbers for Wellington, Wellington region, the number of births,” demographer Dr Moana Rarere from the University of Waikato’s Te Ngira Institute said.
Teddy said the agency is responsible for planning for growth and population shifts in the short- and long-term so school provision is effective and sustainable.
Rarere said the Ministry of Education’s future decision making on Wellington schools will need to consider a range of perspectives.
“You need to sort of look at the geography but also consider community voices,” she said.
1News asked nine Wellington schools for interviews about their reduced roll. Just one educator was willing to speak anonymously from a personal perspective, not representing their school.
The educator said affected Wellington schools are concerned about rolls declining and discuss the issue every year.
The situation has left school staff feeling unsettled, they said, as the overall funding schools receive and staff entitlement funding is based on their school roll, as well as other factors like the level of deprivation in a school community.
The educator said immigration post-Covid had saved their school roll from dropping further.
In their school, there is now less funding for staff to lead the teaching of subjects and the school is dipping into savings to top up teacher aide hours, with the need for learning support for students greater than the funding provided. The educator said not all schools would have the amount of savings to make this decision.
Rarere said the cost of living and high house prices in some parts of Wellington could be another contributing factor in driving families out.
