Talk to any Indian parents in New Zealand and ask them what is the one thing they are most particular about as regards their children – and most would say 'exemplary education’.
There is no denying that providing good education by enrolling kids in a high decile school is a priority for parents, especially the Indian ones, given their conditioning back home.
And when one talks about Auckland and particularly the Flatbush area, Ormiston school – be it primary, junior college and senior college is the preferred choice for many Indian parents.
Many parents have bought or rented homes in the Flat Bush area, which is in the zone for the Ormiston schools. However, now many are in a state of panic as there has been a proposal by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to amend the enrolment zone for Ormiston Primary School.
The MoE is currently undertaking consultation about the proposed changes, which will end on Friday, Sept 2. When a decision is made, the changes will be effective starting Jan 1' 2023.
Fearing its repercussions, an online petition, “We Oppose Ormiston Primary School rezoning” has been started, which has got more than 250 signatures so far.
According to the petition, the consequences of rezoning would be that kids currently living in the already existing Ormiston Primary school in-zone area and enrolling in Ormiston Primary school after Jan 1, 2023 will need to be enrolled in Chapel Downs School of Decile 2.
'Rezoning is unfair'
One of the signatories, Bal Pillay, says, “I oppose the zoning as we have spent a lot of money to buy a house which qualified in Ormiston school zone, and we wanted our kids to start their education from primary to secondary in one school. If the MoE had plans to change the zone, this should have been notified to the people buying in these zones when the sub-divisions got completed. We have been misled here, and this will not only affect the future of our kids but the financial distress it will cause to families as the house prices will drop due to the change in zoning.”
Sharing the same concerns, Abhishek Sood says, “I am the owner of the house currently zoned for Ormiston primary. I bought the house in June 2022 with the primary purpose of enrolling my daughter in Ormiston Primary. This is so discriminating and unfair to pull out our section of houses from the zoned area and defeats our purpose of purchasing the property here.”
Another signatory Ritika Sood points out, “The proposed scheme is picking and making random discrimination on a certain block of houses not considering that Chapel Downs School cannot be compared to Ormiston Primary in terms of infrastructure and quality of education provided.”
Indian Weekender got in touch with the MoE to know their take on the issue, particularly about the distress faced by those who are likely to be affected by the rezoning.
“We need to respond to the growth occurring at Ormiston Primary School, which is close to capacity."
MoE hautu (leader) Te Tai Raro (North) Isabel Evans maintains that the population growth in the Ormiston Mission Heights catchment is the reason behind this proposed decision.
“Flatbush is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and ensuring schools can meet the school-aged population growth is a priority. There are expected to be 5550 additional dwellings in this catchment, and the network of schools will need to accommodate close to another 3000 students,” explained Evans.
According to Evans, the Ministry has been working closely with these schools to develop a plan to deal with this growth. “In the short term, we need to respond to the growth occurring at Ormiston Primary School, which is close to capacity. We’ll provide extra classrooms so the school can accommodate 1200 students places, and we'll amend the school's enrolment scheme, so its zone is appropriate for its capacity,” she says.
Evans maintains that if they continue to provide classrooms at the three schools, they could collectively cater for more than 7000 students, but this would put significant pressure on their infrastructure and ability to deliver the curriculum.
“The proposed amendment to the Ormiston Primary School zone will change the pathway for new families living in the amended area to Chapel Downs School, which is also amending its zone. Chapel Downs School is on a large site, and there's lots of scope to increase its capacity. The option to establish a new junior college in the area will also be explored, along with a new primary school,” she says.
These proposed zone changes won't affect existing families with children already enrolled at the school. Younger siblings will also be able to attend as though they were in-zone students as long as they continue to live at their current address after the zone change is made, assures Evans.
For more details: https://consultation.education.govt.nz/education/ormiston-schools-enrolment-schemes/