Emily Gill

As a parent of two children, I absolutely want Ōpōtiki College to be a good option.

Unfortunately, with no sufficient facilities onsite until the end of 2026 and the minimal teacher capacity, in part due to low enrolment, the situation makes it exceptionally difficult for me, as a parent, to consider Ōpōtiki College for our first child next year.

I would love to consider transitioning him back to Ōpōtiki in a couple of years, perhaps in time for our second child to attend.

In the meantime, it seems having ongoing community engagement is vital. Indeed, we should all be applying political pressure to Ministry of Education to fast-track the facility and resourcing of our college.  

It is truly an outrage that we are in this situation. A suggestion would be: The college providing pānui for every primary kura and school in our district, to send to every parent of year 7/8 students, with a list of dates/times for opportunities to meet with college governance – not just one evening.  

Unfortunately, the recent evening was not something I had been aware of (I am not on Facebook enough or missed an announcement in the paper) and the timing conflicted with other obligations.  

Receiving a notice from our children’s kura with two or three options for engagement, would likely ensure every whānau could contribute.  

If there are kura or schools who are not supporting the college (eg refuse to send out a pānui), there should be deliberate engagement with primary schools as well.  

Our college should be highly regarded by all the teachers in our community, especially primary schools. If there is a conflict, this is an opportunity to learn what kura and primary schools consider important, given they know in detail the foundational learning our tamariki are receiving prior to college.  

Our community is too small to have factions and competing facilities.  

We should be pooling resources, to maximise opportunities for all our rangatahi, and be the pride of our district  with a wait list of out-of-zoners coming to us. (As you highlighted).