Hato Petera College faces closure with education minister starting formal process

Friday, 6 April 2018

In early 2017, Hato Petera College boarding facilities were boarded up and the college started operating as a day school with 25-30 students. Now it has five students.

The only remaining student at a former Māori boarding school is refusing to give up hope of saving the college.

Hato Petera, on Auckland's North Shore, has struggled with a declining role and resources, particularly since becoming a day school at the end of 2016.

A commissioner took over earlier this year and was determined to turn the school around, but now Lex Hamill agreed with the education minister it was time to consider whether the school was sustainable.

'Despite the extensive work of the commissioner, previous boards of trustees, teaching staff and the community, concerns about the college's finances, human resourcing, curriculum and its low student numbers remain,' Education Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement on Friday.

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A formal process has started to consider closing Hato Petera College in Auckland's Northcote.

Agreement had been reached to begin consultation about the possible cancellation of the integration agreement of Hato Patera College, Hipkins said.

The last remaining student, 14-year-old Stephanie Pomare, and her mother Phyllis Pomare said on Friday they were feeling 'optimistic' about the college's future following the announcement.

Hato Petera commissioner Lex Hamill says the school is not the only 'iconic Māori school' struggling in the country.

Phyllis Pomare said she felt like attention was finally being paid to her daughter's situation.

'We need to get a guarantee [from Chris Hipkins] – 'are you going to listen to us, or are you going to have this consultation and do what you're going to do anyway?'' she said.

Stephanie, of Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua, had been at the school for just over a year, and had excelled during that time, Pomare said.

She was so committed to attending the college she travelled for 90 minutes each way – by train, bus and foot – to attend each day.

'This is the school for her, because this is the school that brings out success for her. This is the school that's raised and restored her mana,' Pomare said.

Stephanie likened the school to a kaumatua, or elder, she said.

'She won't leave him by himself.'

She sometimes got lonely at school by herself, but students from nearby Westlake Girls High School walked over during the lunch break to spend time with her and 'just chat about every, ordinary teenage things', Pomare said.

The pair plan to travel to Wellington to meet with Hipkins and present a proposal regarding keeping the school open.

They have started a Givealittle page to raise funds to get to Wellington, and a Facebook page, 'Stand With Stephanie', for supporters of their cause.

Stephanie had also written to the Pope in the hopes he could help her to save the school, and hoped to travel to the Vatican to seek an audience with him, Pomare said.

On Friday, Hipkins said the college had faced closure and went through a similar process in 2016, but the situation at the school had now changed.

It was time to listen again to what the whānau and the diocese wanted for the college, he said.

Hammil was supportive of the decision that the proprietor of Hato Petera College, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, and the minister had taken to initiate the consultation process.

'The minister's announcement had taken away the uncertainty and given the school direction as to a process that will determine whether the school should remain open or closed,' Hamill told Stuff, adding the school had been in limbo.

It was a fine balance, but if the ministry was spend half a million dollars keeping a school going for one student, the ministry needed to review whether it could keep pouring money into the school, he said.

Former student, GP Lance O'Sullivan, has been vocal in his support of the college.

The school of 100 to 200 students that old boys remember is very different to the school of only a few students today, Hammil said.

While some blame the move to a day school for the school's downturn, a number of factors came to play, he said.

'Originally parents looked for the language for their children, but now state schools are better at providing te reo and many parents would rather send their children to a local community school, rather than going boarding,' Hamill said.

Following the consultation process, which will run until 14 May, the Ministry of Education will provide a summary of the feedback.

'Once I've had a chance to consider the feedback, a decision will be made about the cancellation of the college's integration agreement,' Hipkins said.