Aorangi bilingual pupils' rough transition

Aorangi School's bilingual pupils still do not have a classroom as their new school deals with the "stress".

"Our tamariki [children] deserve better than what we have been able to deliver so far, in terms of our teaching te reo, in terms of a space to have this teaching happen and in terms of curriculum," Burnside Primary School principal Matt Bateman says in a letter to the children's families.

The former Aorangi pupils have been receiving bilingual lessons in the school hall for nearly a term.

Education Minister Anne Tolley closed the Christchurch school last year, promising a smooth transition for the Aorangi youngsters to their new school.

However, Bateman said in the letter that his school did not yet have Ministry of Education permission to establish a bilingual unit, nor had it been granted "property" funding for the unit.

A copy of the letter was tabled in Parliament yesterday by Christchurch East Member of Parliament Lianne Dalziel.

In the letter, Bateman described the "stress on us all" from not having classroom space for a bilingual unit nor enough time for the transition.

Burnside Primary School has enrolled about 50 of Aorangi's 88 former pupils.

Dalziel said the children's education was suffering as a result of Tolley's haste in shutting Aorangi.

"Despite assurances from the minister at the time she closed Aorangi, these children are receiving their lessons on the school hall stage," Dalziel said yesterday.

"That's just not good enough and it is not fair on the children."

In response to Dalziel's questions in Parliament yesterday, Tolley said a consultation process was needed before a bilingual unit "may or may not" be put into the school.

"There is a set process – and I advised on that at the end of last year – committed to establishing the unit."

In the meantime, bilingual education was available at Burnside Primary School and Cobham Intermediate.

Tolley said Burnside Primary School had property space for 320 pupils.

It currently had a roll of 288 children.

"How a principal chooses to use school property is entirely his or her decision," Tolley said.

The ministry and local primary schools had worked hard on the transition of the former Aorangi students which had gone smoothly, she said.

Former Aorangi principal Stephanie Thompson said she was disappointed for the children who had been promised "little disruption" to their bilingual education.

- © Fairfax NZ News