High demand for Christchurch’s popular state schools
Thursday, 7 November 2024
This is Getting In - a project examining what it takes to get your child into your school of choice in Christchurch. Today we look at why the most popular state schools are slamming their gates shut to out-of-zone students. Subscribe, to read the entire series.
Sumner parent Jim Perry had to be strategic to ensure his son got into their school of choice, Cashmere High about 15km away.
The popular state school no longer accepts out-of-zone students.
Luckily, Perry’s son lives part-time in Cashmere, putting him in-zone for the high equity index (previously known as decile) school.
Perry said the family even front-footed their son’s transition by moving him to Christchurch South Intermediate, so he would have friends on day one at Cashmere.
“We sent him away from Sumner Primary to better prepare him for secondary school by front loading making friends and for the overall package at a stand alone intermediate.”
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Cashmere High is not the only school reducing access to out-of-zoners.
At Christchurch Boys’ High, out-of-zone places for next year are limited, with none available for year 10 or 11 students, and only 14 places across years 12 and 13.
Year 9 enrolments closed in late July, and the school had earlier forecast it had room for 130 out-of-zone pupils in that year group.
Headmaster Nic Hill says there are as many reasons for choosing a particular school as there are families. One draw-card could be extracurricular activities.
“Out of zone behaviour is largely driven by extracurricular activities and the government could do more to support access to these in all schools,” Hill said.
Canterbury University research from 2017 looked into which characteristics make schools more desirable and what draws students from outside the school zone.
A school’s academic achievement, student population, and the (now defunct) decile ratings, led parents to see some schools as prestigious and of good quality while others were avoided.
Parents chose out of zone schools if they had better student retention and students consistently achieving well in NCEA.
Ministry of Education enrolment schemes specify a school’s home zone and ballot process, as a means of limiting a school’s roll to prevent overcrowding. It also enables the ministry to make best use of the current classrooms at schools in the surrounding area.
The ministry said it would not provide a current map of Christchurch school zones, because they changed often and the information could quickly become obsolete. Instead, the ministry advised parents to contact schools directly.
Cashmere High has seen a considerable transformation since the 1980s when it was nicknamed ‘Trashmere’, and local teenagers travelled out of zone to more desirable, often private, schools.
The last decade has seen Cashmere’s roll grow by nearly 500 students, peaking at 2217 last year despite shrinking its zone in 2019 and 2021.
In January, then principal Joe Eccleton explained the school’s growth was due to a local population boom.
“We’ve got more housing intensification in our zone, more subdivisions in our zone, more people just moving into our zone - and it's putting pressure on spaces at school,” Eccleton said at the time.
Te Aratai College in Linwood has also seen a turnaround in its fortunes following its post-earthquake rebuild and the arrival of a new principal.
Principal Maria Lemalie said enrolments were expected to tip over 1400 students in 2025, nearly double the students at the school in 2019. “We might struggle to accommodate students if we keep going like this,” Lemalie said.
Academic success has also increased with the number of Te Aratai students enrolled in tertiary study up more than 15% in the last five years.
Burnside High School has about 2500 students and is grappling with zone cheats as it gradually reduces the number of students it accepts each year from out of zone.
Meanwhile, Christchurch Girls’ High School had a burgeoning roll of 1288 as of March 2024, while the construction master plan would accommodate 1250 on the small school site.
The long-awaited earthquake rebuild involved demolishing part of the campus and replacing the old 1980s-era blocks with three big large buildings.
Principal Helen Armstrong said the school was advised by the Ministry of Education about minor amendments to their home zone, and were advised the enrolment scheme would be reviewed in 2026.
For 2025, the school received 581 out-of-zone enrolment applications but typically has only 100 places available.
Amelia Thompson has three children under 10 and she sees that, at this stage, Christchurch Boys’ High and Girls’ High would suit her children better than their in-zone options.
“The kids are really into sports and I have heard good things about those schools,” she said.
Her family are considering a move into the overlapping Boys’ High, Girls’ High school zone in the coming years.
“I know it sounds stupid but living in Christchurch - the high school you attend literally haunts you forever. It’s the first thing people ask,” Thompson said.
Tomorrow: Getting into one of Christchurch’s sought-after private schools.