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Under-Secretary to the Minister of Education David Seymour today announced that two new Partnership Schools | Kura Hourua will open in 2017.

“The new sponsors submitted strong applications and we look forward to seeing this reflected in the learning outcomes of their students,” says Mr Seymour.

“New Zealand students have diverse educational needs, which is why we allow expanded educational choice and innovation through initiatives like Partnership Schools.

“These new schools will help raise educational achievement, in particular for those groups of students who have not been successful in the mainstream schooling system.

“I would like to acknowledge the hard work and advocacy of the Māori Party. Both new schools have Kaupapa Māori special character and this reflects the Māori community’s embrace of the policy.

“From the beginning of the 2017 school year, these two new schools will join the eight Partnership Schools already operating.”

The two new schools are:

• Te Kōpuku High: sponsored by Kia Ata Mai Educational Trust. Te Kōpuku High will be a co-educational composite secondary school for years 7 to 13. Located in Hamilton, it will have a Late Immersion Kaupapa Māori special character, and will target Māori students.
• Te Aratika Academy: sponsored by Te Aratika Charitable Trust. Te Aratika Academy will be a single sex (male) senior secondary school for years 11 to 13. Located in Napier, it will have a vocationally-focused Kaupapa Māori special character, and will target male Māori students.

The schools will have a combined opening roll of 157, growing to a maximum of 500 by 2021.

Te Kōpuku High and Te Aratika Academy were selected from 26 applications received by the Ministry of Education during the third Partnership School application round. Applications were assessed by the Partnership Schools Authorisation Board and the Ministry.

Key criteria included the strength of applicants’ educational offering, and their ability to improve the educational outcomes of students the education system has not served well.

Round four of applications, for schools intending to open in 2018, is now open.

Details are available here