1 Oct 2013

Quake damage only one factor for ministry in school closures

6:04 pm on 1 October 2013

It's been revealed earthquake damage was only one factor considered by the Ministry of Education when it decided to close schools in Christchurch.

The revelation has come at the High Court in Christchurch where Phillipstown School is seeking to overturn a decision by the Education Minister to close it and merge it with a neighbouring school.

On the second day of the two-day judicial review hearing, the ministry's lawyer, Karen Clark QC, said the ministry was open about the fact the earthquakes represented an opportunity to modernise the city's schools.

She said matching up the number of schools with actual demand was an important part of lifting student achievement in Christchurch schools.

Ministry knew many pupils would not attend new schools

A lawyer for the Ministry of Education has conceded the ministry knew many pupils at Phillipstown School would not attend Woolston School when it was proposed the two schools merge.

Lawyer Sally McKechnie said on Tuesday morning that an analysis was carried out of schools in the area, which showed there were two other state schools that were closer to the homes of many Phillipstown students than Woolston School.

The ministry concluded they would most likely attend these schools rather than the one Phillipstown was merging with, but the merger was in keeping with resolving an oversupply of schools in the east of the city.

On Monday, the lawyer for Phillipstown School revealed 70% of pupils would not attend Woolston, which is on the other side of a busy road.

School closed on assumptions not facts - lawyer

The High Court in Christchurch on Monday heard the Minister of Education based her decision to close a primary school on assumptions, and not fact.

Phillipstown School has taken the ministry to court over the decision, which it says breaches the Education Act.

The school argues the minister's decision was not legal because she based it on draft engineering reports and not the final ones.

The decision was announced in May, but lawyer Mai Chen says the final engineering reports were not completed until June.

Phillipstown School is one of a number of primary schools due to close because of mergers with other schools following the earthquakes in Canterbury. It has 163 pupils.

In January, it will re-open on the Woolston School, just over 2km away. Woolston has 325 pupils.