5 Nov 2012

School taking ministry to court over closure

12:31 pm on 5 November 2012

A Nelson school is taking the Ministry of Education to court over a decision to close it.

The board of trustees at Salisbury School, which teaches girls with intellectual disabilities, says it has filed papers for a judicial review of the decision at the High Court in Wellington.

It also sought an interim order to prevent the Government taking further steps to close the school.

The board says it was left with no choice but to take legal action after Education Minister Hekia Parata announced last week the school would be closed and students would be moved to a boy's school in Christchurch next year.

Board chair Helen McDonnell said the school currently has 44 teenage students, all of whom moved there because mainstream education was not working for them.