Bishop Patrick Dunn, the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the proprietor of Hato Petera College believes that the cancellation of the College’s Integration Agreement is in the best interests of students.
The Minister of Education Chris Hipkins and the Bishop have agreed that the College will close on 31 August 2018.
In making the announcement last Friday Hipkins said the school was no longer capable of providing a quality education.
“The sad reality is that there aren’t any students left at Hato Pētera,” he said.
“The advice I received from the ministry made it very clear that any students who did enrol at Hato Pētera weren’t going to be receiving the standard of education they should be.”
Deed of Grant will be honoured
In a press release, the Diocese said it is committed to ensuring that the intent of the Deed of Grant made in 1850 in relation to the land, is honoured.
The land or income from the land will be used to support “…. the education of children of our subjects of both races and of children of other poor and destitute persons being inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific…”(Deed of Grant, 19 August 1850).
Needs have changed
The diocese said Hato Petera College has a proud history but it has not been the secondary school of choice for Catholic Māori, within the Catholic Diocese of Auckland.
As at 1 July 2018 there were 1,065 Māori students attending 15 Catholic Secondary schools in the Diocese.
This year the roll at Hato Petera has fluctuated between one and five students.
There have been no students at the College in Term 3.
Past students have chosen not to send their children and grandchildren to Hato Petera College.
The Church’s concern over the past few years has been that students at Hato Petera College have not been receiving the education they need or deserve.
The need for Māori boarding schools has changed.
Significantly fewer Māori are choosing to send their rangatahi to Māori boarding schools for their secondary education.
Hato Petera was the only co-educational Māori boarding school in Aotearoa.
There are four remaining single-sex schools Māori boarding schools; two of them are Catholic schools.
There are three in Hawkes Bay: Hukarere Girls’ College St Joseph’s Maori Girls’ College, Te Aute College.
Hato Paora College at Cheltenham in Manawatu.
All have very small school rolls and the total roll across all 4 schools is 531, the size of a small secondary school.
Looking at possibilities
The Auckland Diocese is exploring and considering all education options for the use of the site.
Some possibilities include discussions with the Ministry of Education regarding the use of the College facilities by another school.
It is also in discussion with Hato Petera old boy Dr Lance O’Sullivan, Chair of the Moko Foundation, about the possibility of establishing a “Hato Petera hostel/academy” that could support a new model of education at the current site.
Source
- Supplied: Lyndsay Freer
Media & Communications, Catholic Diocese of Auckland - radionz.co.nz
- Image: Newsroom /Alexia Russell