Rangiora High School Nursery School Not Threatened

(PR.co.nz) Following a change in legislation that saw Rangiora High School lose the right to own and operate a pre-school facility, the Rangiora High School Board of Trustee moved in 2011 to establish the Rangiora High School Nursery School Trust. This separate entity has sole responsibility for the operation of the Nursery School as a result. In August of this year the Rangiora High School Board of Trustees, faced with a burgeoning role and extreme pressure of existing facilities, resolved to appropriate the land and buildings currently occupied by the Rangiora High School Nursery School, to accommodate the schools Learning and Teaching Department.

After 74 years on the site in Wales Street the Nursery School will relocate to make room for the more than 1800 students who currently attend the second largest secondary school in the South Island. In September the Rangiora High School Board of Trustees, the Rangiora High School Nursery School Trust and the Ministry of Education met to discuss a practical way forward. At that time the Rangiora High School Board made it very clear to the Nursery School Trust that it was prepared to wait until December 2013 for the appropriation of the Wales Street facility to ensure the Nursery School Trust have sufficient time to plan for this eventuality.

The Nursery School forms part of the Ministry of Education’s North Canterbury network of pre-schools and so the Ministry not Rangiora High School funds all their staffing and operations spending. The Ministry of Education have indicated they would continue to do so and would as well assist with the relocation process. During the September meeting the Rangiora High School Board also assured the Nursery School Trust that there would be consultation between the parties around relocation logistics, possible timeframes and the Trust’s own communication processes with Nursery School staff and parents. The Board has always been willing participant in the process and has met with the Chair of the Nursery School Trust, as is appropriate.

The Rangiora High School Board has no wish or intention to stop the Nursery School from trading as the Rangiora High School Nursery School. The Board is as committed today as it was 74 years ago to ensuring that there is a place for the Nursery School in Rangiora, and will support the Nursery School during this time of transition to new premises. While the Rangiora High School Board of Trustees is extremely sad to lose the right to own and operate a Nursery School facility, it has had to accept after a four year battle with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry’s view that pre-school education is not the school’s core business.

Media Releaase 17 October 2012.