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Doctor Lance O’Sullivan wants to shift the Vanguard military school on to the vacant Hato Petera College site.
He has also proposed that the Hato Petera site should be used for a hostel for Māori students attending other schools in the area, on the model of Auckland Grammar School’s InZone hostel in Epsom.
He said he told the minister of education Chris Hipkins about his proposal to transfer Vanguard just before Hipkins announced the closure of Hato Petera on August 31.
A spokesman for Hipkins confirmed that O’Sullivan outlined the proposal at a principals’ conference at Wairakei on August 30, but said the minister was “non-committal” about it.
O’Sullivan, a former Hato Petera student, has produced videos telling the stories of four Vanguard students in an effort to stop parliament passing a bill to abolish charter schools such as the military academy.
He says after five years Vanguard has demonstrated by its academic results that it genuinely transforms lives and has provided a positive and aspirational pathway for rangatahi who were failed by the mainstream education system.
Vanguard Military School is a co-educational charter school located in Albany.
It opened in 2014 and was the first of 11 charter schools to apply to become part of the state education system under the changes Labour made to the charter school system.
In May Hipkins gave approval for Vanguard to become a designated character state school.
In 2019 it will become a full secondary school with up to 312 students from Years 9 to 13.
At present, it teaches the New Zealand Curriculum to Year 11, 12 and 13 students with the specific aim of gaining the NCEA and UE qualifications.
The school uses the ethos and training methodology of the military which it says helps students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to achieve attitudinal and academic excellence.
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