School need 'urgent'

GEORGINA STYLIANOU

The need for a high school in Rolleston is becoming "more and more urgent by the day", Selwyn District Mayor Kelvin Coe says.

Coe said Rolleston and surrounding townships were growing rapidly and plans for a high school were needed.

The town's newest primary school, Clearview, is on land owned by the Education Ministry.

"When they [the ministry] bought the land, they bought a section big enough to house a high school. It's something that has been in the pipeline for a while," Coe said.

However, the district council wanted the school to be built near the town's new swimming pool in Goulds Rd.

"We think the school would be better suited on land at the end of the recreational precinct," Coe said.

"We purchased it about a year ago and that's where the new swimming pool will be, and there'll be playing fields and things like that, too."

The ministry had "a big job to do at the moment".

"Obviously it's difficult because there are a lot of schools that need repairing after the earthquakes, and that is totally understandable, but the growth out this way is only going to continue," he said.

"Busloads" of pupils from the Rolleston area attended Lincoln High School, Coe said.

"We would love to have a school in Rolleston and we really do need one. It would be a huge community building block for us, too," he said.

Clearview School principal James Petronelli said there was "definitely a great need" for a high school in Rolleston.

"There was a Lincoln- Rolleston area strategy that was done in May 2010 and there hasn't been once since that, but even then, it was identified that when the region had 1000 primary-aged schoolchildren, then a high school needed to be seriously considered."

That target had since been met, he said.

"The way in which Rolleston is continuing to grow means that we definitely do need a high school," he said.

Rolleston Residents' Association vice-chairwoman Lynley Shaw said the community needed to "up the pressure" for a high school.

"We've got two primary schools and there are already signs that we could benefit from a third, but you can't have three primary schools, plus the daycare centres, and then not have a high school," she said.

Education Ministry acting southern regional manager Kathryn Palmer said there was no "time frame in mind for the establishment of a new high school".

"In 2004, the ministry purchased approximately 10 hectares of land in Rolleston so that it could respond at the appropriate time to a need for enhanced primary and secondary schooling should the population of the area continue to increase."

The ministry would continue to monitor population movement and roll changes for all schools in the greater Christchurch area, Palmer said.

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