Kia ora koutou,
Last year Te Papapa School was directed by the Ministry of Education to put a zone in place. This was part of an Auckland wide initiative to put zones in place in a number of schools that were unzoned. All our neighbouring schools already have zones in place. One of these zones, (Oranga School) currently ends on Mt. Smart Road which is directly across the road from our school. The TPS Board of Trustees opposed this zone being placed across the road from our school in 2019 but our concerns were not addressed at the time and the zone was put into place in 2020. We have since worked with the Ministry of Education to develop an alternative zone that addresses that inequity.
As Te Papapa School is located near the edge of the industrial area the placement of a zone for our school as the situation currently stands would result just a few blocks of residential area that would be solely zoned for our school. Most of the proposed zone stretching to the south of the school is industrial area. This results in significant inequity for our school when compared with other school zones. The new proposed zone moves the school zone currently sitting on Mt. Smart Road back from the TPS border and gives both us and all the schools around us areas of shared and unshared zone in the residential area.
The consultation period for the proposed zone was interrupted in August 2021 by the Covid19 lockdown and subsequent restrictions. We are now in a position where we cannot extend the consultation period further and the final date for submissions on the zone is Friday 6th May. Letters on behalf of the BOT and whanau Maori will be submitted in support of the zone.
The MOE are inviting TPS to have their say on the zone. You can do this by:
-writing your own letter
-getting a group together to write a letter
We would encourage you to do this so you can have your say. Your letter does not need to be long. You can either email your views directly to the MOE at Gavin Holland Gavin.Holland@education.govt.nz or robync@tepapapa.school.nz or bring your letter into school.
A few points to note:
-the zone will not apply to students in the bi-lingual units
-the zone will not affect current students
-in practical terms, for the foreseeable future, any out of zone students will still be able to attend TPS as we have plenty of room to grow
-the removal of the school zone from Mt. Smart road will reduce the inequity currently in place and give Te Papapa School a more equitable zone alongside other schools in the area.
-all surrounding schools will still have large areas of unshared zone.
-letters must be submitted by Friday 6th May.
Please contact Robyn Curry if you have any questions.
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