Auckland's Hato Pētera College to close for good

Friday, 31 August 2018

Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins announced the closure of the school on Friday.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced the closure of Auckland's Hato Pētera College.

Hato Pētera, on Auckland's North Shore, has struggled with a declining role and resources, particularly since boarding facilities closed at the end of 2016.

'Despite all efforts to find a way of keeping the school going, the reality is that it is no longer able to provide a quality of education,' Hipkins said on Friday.

'The cancellation of the integration agreement for Hato Pētera is in mutual agreement with the Proprietor, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Auckland.'

**READ MORE:

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said Hato Pētera could no longer provide quality education.

* Future of Hato Pētera College

* Hato Petera College faces closure

* Community's fight to save Hato Petera gathers pace

* Calls for Hato Petera to be reinstated as boarding school

* Northcote manawhenua 'repo' land of Hato Pētera**

Boarding facilities at the school were boarded up in 2017.

The college was the last remaining Māori boarding school in Auckland. The school's boarding hostel was closed by the Ministry of Education in 2016 due to health and safety concerns.

In the 1990s between 100 and 200 students attended the school, this number had dropped to just under 50 in 2016 and about 20 in 2017.

The roll had dropped to only one student, Stephanie Pomare, earlier in 2018.

Stephanie's mother Phyllis Pomare said her daughter had now been moved to a public school in south Auckland.

'We're desperately sad today,' Pomare said on Friday.

'We knew it was coming but it's still sad for us.'

Pomare said she'd sent Stephanie to the school because it respected children's different learning styles and delivered them in a way they could understand.

'It filled a gap and gave a lot of kids a sense of belonging – there [are] 17 Catholic high schools in Auckland but they only teach very basic te reo Māori.'

Pomare said although she was sad the battle for the school had ended, Stephanie had been welcomed into her new school.

'She does miss being able to openly embrace being Catholic, but she feels better knowing the school isn't going to shut down on her.

'When we started looking at schools her one requirement was that the school have at least 1500 students in the school. She's enjoying having other students around and she's made some female friends as well as joined some sports teams which she couldn't do at Pētera.'

Hipkins said it was 'never an easy decision closing a school.

'There are limited opportunities for the students to have social interaction with peers – the classroom environment is lonely despite the best intentions of the staff.

'Today's announcement, while sad for those involved, will end a period of uncertainty for students and staff.'

Hato Pētera has a proud history and tradition of supporting Māori through education, but in recent years many Catholic Māori students had chosen to enrol in other colleges in the area.

Originally established as a private school in 1928, Hato Petera became a state-integrated school in 1981.

The Diocese owns the land, and Hipkins said it would like to see it continue to be used for educational purposes consistent with the original deed of gift from the Crown.

Bishop Patrick Dunn, the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the proprietor of the college, said the cancellation of the integration agreement was in the best interests of students.

'Hato Pētera has a proud history but it has not been the secondary school of choice for Catholic Māori within the Catholic Diocese of Auckland.

'Past students have chosen not to send their children and grandchildren here.'

Dunn said while the roll had fluctuated between one and five students this year, there were no students enrolled in term three.

'The church's concern over the past few years has been that students at the college have not been receiving the education they need or deserve.

'The need for Māori boarding schools has changed. Fewer Māori are choosing to send their rangatahi to Māori boarding schools for their secondary education.'

The four remaining Māori boarding schools in Aotearoa all have very small school rolls and the total roll across all four schools is 531, the size of a small secondary school.

In July 2018 there were 1065 Māori students attending 15 Catholic Secondary schools in the Diocese.

Dunn said the Diocese was considering and exploring all education options for the site.

'We've had discussions with the Ministry regarding the use of the college facilities by another school and with Hato Pētera old boy Dr Lance O'Sullivan, Chair of the Moko Foundation, about the possibility of establishing a hostel/academy that could support a new model of education at the current site.'

O'Sullivan said he had been involved with the school since he attended in the late 80s.

'I've seen the decline – it's a sad thing but also an opportunity. I'd like to be involved in turning it into a living facility with outsourced education so the tradition can continue.

'We need to start again. A chapter has been closed and I'm keen for the next one.'

Pomare said she'd love to see the site go back to being a school, but didn't believe it was feasible.

'The Pētera whanau are there so I'm happy about that. They gifted the land for the purpose of education so I hope that now it will be returned to them.'