1
00:00:09,093 --> 00:00:12,693
Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZEDB. Follow

2
00:00:12,773 --> 00:00:16,133
Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio

3
00:00:16,692 --> 00:00:17,532
Speaker 1: News TALKSB.

4
00:00:17,653 --> 00:00:19,853
Speaker 2: So what can be done about at capacity high schools?

5
00:00:19,933 --> 00:00:22,493
Speaker 2: Joining us now is Patrick Drumm. He's the headmaster at

6
00:00:22,493 --> 00:00:25,172
Speaker 2: Mount Albert Grammar School. Patrick, very good afternoons?

7
00:00:25,213 --> 00:00:27,773
Speaker 3: You yeah, good afternoon? How are you very good?

8
00:00:27,813 --> 00:00:31,373
Speaker 4: What is causing the overcrowding of Auckland schools?

9
00:00:33,573 --> 00:00:35,853
Speaker 3: Well, I think we're just a sort of function of

10
00:00:35,893 --> 00:00:39,573
Speaker 3: other challenges around infrastructure, aren't we in a rapidly growing city,

11
00:00:39,653 --> 00:00:45,693
Speaker 3: and you know, you blink, drive around and blink, and

12
00:00:45,693 --> 00:00:48,533
Speaker 3: then suddenly there's another state house gone or another house

13
00:00:48,613 --> 00:00:51,173
Speaker 3: moved off, and three or four or five or six

14
00:00:51,253 --> 00:00:55,253
Speaker 3: other dwellings and that on that property within our school zone,

15
00:00:55,253 --> 00:00:57,453
Speaker 3: and they bring in families and those young people need

16
00:00:57,493 --> 00:01:00,613
Speaker 3: to go to school. So it's just simply a growth

17
00:01:01,613 --> 00:01:03,733
Speaker 3: is rapid and we're just having to cope with that.

18
00:01:04,093 --> 00:01:07,013
Speaker 4: How many kids that Mount Albert Grammar and how many

19
00:01:07,053 --> 00:01:08,013
Speaker 4: would you be comfortable with?

20
00:01:10,293 --> 00:01:12,853
Speaker 3: There are two different different questions, aren't there really? But

21
00:01:12,893 --> 00:01:15,373
Speaker 3: I mean we're an excess of three thousand, six hundred

22
00:01:15,413 --> 00:01:20,573
Speaker 3: students now and we've been growing and so in nine

23
00:01:20,652 --> 00:01:24,133
Speaker 3: years as headmaster here and we've grown a thousand students

24
00:01:24,212 --> 00:01:27,812
Speaker 3: in that time. So and that includes the COVID period

25
00:01:27,813 --> 00:01:29,733
Speaker 3: where things slowed down, But so we're looking at sort

26
00:01:29,733 --> 00:01:31,533
Speaker 3: of one hundred one hundred and fifty students a year

27
00:01:32,652 --> 00:01:36,812
Speaker 3: and the question about being comfortable is actually irrelevant because

28
00:01:37,013 --> 00:01:39,333
Speaker 3: they're in our zone. We've got to take students here

29
00:01:40,212 --> 00:01:42,653
Speaker 3: that there's no real choice about it. That's pretty clear

30
00:01:42,733 --> 00:01:43,732
Speaker 3: under the Education Act.

31
00:01:44,453 --> 00:01:46,733
Speaker 4: There are some advantages in having a big school. I

32
00:01:46,733 --> 00:01:49,453
Speaker 4: think Mount Avragram is a fantastic school. I've got two

33
00:01:49,493 --> 00:01:52,973
Speaker 4: kids been there and everything they could want to do

34
00:01:53,293 --> 00:01:56,693
Speaker 4: is available to them, clubs, sports, whatever they want. That's

35
00:01:56,693 --> 00:01:59,853
Speaker 4: basically a city and whoever you are, you can find

36
00:02:00,213 --> 00:02:03,253
Speaker 4: your thing. So there is an advantage in being a

37
00:02:03,333 --> 00:02:03,853
Speaker 4: huge school.

38
00:02:04,213 --> 00:02:07,133
Speaker 3: Petro, I think there is. I mean these other economies

39
00:02:07,173 --> 00:02:12,373
Speaker 3: of scale financially well, and you're exactly right about the

40
00:02:12,373 --> 00:02:17,013
Speaker 3: ability to embrace diversity within our Auckland community. It's reflected

41
00:02:17,013 --> 00:02:19,853
Speaker 3: in the Mount Albert Grammar community as well. But there

42
00:02:19,933 --> 00:02:23,453
Speaker 3: is a place for everyone. There's something for everyone at

43
00:02:23,493 --> 00:02:26,252
Speaker 3: the school. So you know, there are some big advantages

44
00:02:26,613 --> 00:02:28,293
Speaker 3: you might be not having the greatest day with your

45
00:02:28,293 --> 00:02:31,493
Speaker 3: peer group, you know, at a particular lunchtime, but there's

46
00:02:31,532 --> 00:02:33,972
Speaker 3: another four or five hundred students in your year you

47
00:02:34,013 --> 00:02:36,053
Speaker 3: can go and kick a ball around with. So you know,

48
00:02:36,093 --> 00:02:38,173
Speaker 3: those sort of things, you know, are pretty important for

49
00:02:38,213 --> 00:02:40,893
Speaker 3: young people to say, work their way through. And I

50
00:02:40,893 --> 00:02:44,532
Speaker 3: think it just gives a huge opportunity for people to

51
00:02:44,773 --> 00:02:48,653
Speaker 3: rub shoulders with lots of different types of people, and

52
00:02:48,693 --> 00:02:50,933
Speaker 3: I think it's a great preparation for the next step.

53
00:02:51,213 --> 00:02:52,933
Speaker 4: Do you take it as a compliment that so many

54
00:02:52,933 --> 00:02:54,972
Speaker 4: people want to come to your school from at zone?

55
00:02:56,573 --> 00:02:59,173
Speaker 3: We always want to be I think hit masters always

56
00:02:59,173 --> 00:03:01,572
Speaker 3: want to be running a school which you know has

57
00:03:02,213 --> 00:03:05,373
Speaker 3: gardener's confidence within your own community, certainly. But I suppose

58
00:03:05,413 --> 00:03:07,293
Speaker 3: the bigger question there, and it's the one that probably

59
00:03:07,293 --> 00:03:10,172
Speaker 3: can't unpack and five and it's is why parents, say

60
00:03:10,173 --> 00:03:13,493
Speaker 3: from outside our zone not choosing their local schools. And

61
00:03:13,532 --> 00:03:17,133
Speaker 3: I think that's a really serious question about around the

62
00:03:17,173 --> 00:03:20,213
Speaker 3: type of school and we provided in different types of schools,

63
00:03:20,213 --> 00:03:22,692
Speaker 3: curriculum assessment and those sort of things. You know, it's

64
00:03:22,733 --> 00:03:23,773
Speaker 3: a big, big issue.

65
00:03:23,813 --> 00:03:26,133
Speaker 2: How many applications out of his own applications did you

66
00:03:26,173 --> 00:03:28,213
Speaker 2: get for next year? Not an exact number, but are

67
00:03:28,213 --> 00:03:29,213
Speaker 2: we talking in the hundreds.

68
00:03:30,453 --> 00:03:32,733
Speaker 3: Yeah, so for this year because there still things are

69
00:03:32,733 --> 00:03:34,733
Speaker 3: still open at the moment for twenty twenty six. But

70
00:03:35,173 --> 00:03:39,813
Speaker 3: we had we had six hundred year nine applications we

71
00:03:39,853 --> 00:03:42,613
Speaker 3: didn't accept last year. Oh my god, we accepted. We

72
00:03:43,093 --> 00:03:46,213
Speaker 3: accepted six hundred and seventy. So you know, you actually

73
00:03:46,253 --> 00:03:49,413
Speaker 3: can almost double your school role overnight when you look

74
00:03:49,413 --> 00:03:51,613
Speaker 3: at that. And that's even with us sending a pretty

75
00:03:51,613 --> 00:03:54,293
Speaker 3: clear message that we would have a very limited, if

76
00:03:54,333 --> 00:03:57,373
Speaker 3: any out of his own enrollment this year, but we

77
00:03:57,453 --> 00:04:00,293
Speaker 3: still had. I think it's shown that the concern that

78
00:04:00,333 --> 00:04:04,773
Speaker 3: many families have about this important process, which is finding

79
00:04:04,893 --> 00:04:06,693
Speaker 3: a school for your son and your daughter.

80
00:04:07,093 --> 00:04:10,773
Speaker 4: What are the Ministry of Educationation's infrastructure plans to help

81
00:04:10,773 --> 00:04:13,253
Speaker 4: meet your demand, demand and sort of demand in general.

82
00:04:14,133 --> 00:04:17,253
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we've been sort of advocating quite strongly. And

83
00:04:17,293 --> 00:04:19,133
Speaker 3: it's a group of schools around this area. Because if

84
00:04:19,133 --> 00:04:22,973
Speaker 3: I go to the periphery of our enrollment zone, I mean,

85
00:04:23,093 --> 00:04:26,973
Speaker 3: we've got Auckland Grammar, EPSOM Girls Zerolic capacity. You've got

86
00:04:26,973 --> 00:04:30,493
Speaker 3: your private schools pretty close on that boundary as well.

87
00:04:30,773 --> 00:04:34,853
Speaker 3: Western Springs capacity. Evondale College is moving up in terms

88
00:04:34,853 --> 00:04:37,133
Speaker 3: of capacity as well, so it's quite obviously needs to

89
00:04:37,133 --> 00:04:42,253
Speaker 3: be ExtraVision within the central area. At the moment, we're

90
00:04:42,293 --> 00:04:46,693
Speaker 3: just sort of dropping buildings onto existing site to cope with.

91
00:04:46,733 --> 00:04:49,573
Speaker 3: In other words, we opened a building for six hundred

92
00:04:49,613 --> 00:04:52,413
Speaker 3: students last year and that's a significant building.

93
00:04:52,493 --> 00:04:56,333
Speaker 2: That is Patrick Drum Principle of Mount Albert Grammar.

94
00:04:56,133 --> 00:04:57,213
Speaker 4: A fantastic school.

95
00:04:57,773 --> 00:05:00,693
Speaker 1: For more from News Talks B listen live on air

96
00:05:00,933 --> 00:05:03,613
Speaker 1: or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you

97
00:05:03,693 --> 00:05:06,133
Speaker 1: go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio