Publication: ph15022012

At both Normandale and Muritai schools the start of the school year has seen a steady increase in numbers on the roll.

Normandale School increased the number of junior classes from 3 to 6 after a recent surge in its junior roll. The junior rooms will be starting with fairly small numbers which will gradually increase throughout the year.

Principal Anne-Marie Gordon says, that normally, the school adds to the classes for new entrants part-way through the year. “There were just so many children this year that we decided to put more classes on at the start.

“It’s just great. I’m not sure why we’re getting more students, but we do have really good teaching. Our recent ERO report was absolutely stunning!”

The school’s year 6 class this year has 19 students while last year there were only 14. Ms Gordon says there are currently 25 year 1 students and the school is still receiving calls from parents trying to enrol their children.

Muritai Principal Andrew Bird says his school has a strong number of students on the roll this year. “We’ve started with over 400. Last year it was around 390, so we’ve increased by 10 which is really good.”

“We said goodbye to 50 kids from year 8, which was a large group and that was lovely. You’d think the roll would drop because of that but it hasn’t.”

Mr Bird says he has seen Muritai School’s roll increase gradually over time but it can just depend on the year. “We have a large year 2 group at the moment which seems to hold the roll.”

Hutt Valley High School says its roll is at roughly the same level but it is still waiting for things to settle down after the first week of the year.