Residential school for troubled kids to be closed

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Auckland's Waimokoia Residential School for troubled children is to close, Education Minister Anne Tolley said today.

The school with 35 students caters for seven to 13-year-olds with severe behavioural issues.

Mrs Tolley said the decision had been taken in the interests of the students, based on reports from the Education Review Office (ERO) and the school's commissioner.

"A recent ERO review noted that Waimokoia has had a lengthy history of governance and management difficulties, with a commissioner in place for the last nine years," Mrs Tolley said.

The $3 million a year spent on the school would be used to introduce a new service to provide individual support in the home and in students' local schools.

Students at the school usually spent between six and 12 months there before returning to their school and Mrs Tolley said providing more support from them, their families and schools would provide "better and more sustainable educational and behavioural outcomes".

The current students will finish at the end of the academic year, those who could not return to their schools would have the option of attending two other residential schools in West Auckland and Christchurch.

Public Service Association national secretary Brenda Pilott said staff at the school were concerned about what would happen to the students.

"Staff and the PSA opposed closing Waimokoia when it was first proposed by the minister in September and we remain opposed to the closure," Ms Pilot said.

"The children who attend Waimokoia are there because they can't be catered for in mainstream schools because their behaviour makes them a risk to other children and disrupts their learning.

"Yet the minister is closing Waimokoia and wants these students to be returned to their local schools."

- NZPA