Lincoln Primary School - Amendment to Enrolment Scheme

Overview

The Ministry of Education has been working with Lincoln Primary School to establish an amendment to their current enrolment scheme.

The purpose of an enrolment scheme is to assist the school board to manage the risk of overcrowding, provide a fair and transparent process for enrolment and to ensure we are making the best use of schooling facilities across the network of local schools. Click here for the purpose and principles of an enrolment scheme. (Right click to open in a new window)

A key part of an enrolment scheme is the home zone.

Lincoln Primary School has an enrolment scheme that was last amended in 2019 to coincide with the opening of Ararira Springs Primary - Te Puna o Ararira. At this time an area of overlap was retained between the home zones of the two schools. 

When schools experience roll growth towards their capacity, the Ministry must consider what responses are required to prevent overcrowding. The first mechanism available to manage roll growth from within a school's home zone is to review and amend their home zone to assist in re-directing demand to schools with the capacity to accommodate these students if there is scope to do so. Such changes must be considered whenever a school becomes at risk of overcrowding and must be considered when an assessment is given to potential provision of additional teaching space at a school.

Due to rapid ongoing residential development and resultant increasing local demand for primary education in the area, it is now necessary to withdraw the Lincoln Primary School home zone from the remaining overlap with Ararira Springs Primary - Te Puna o Ararira to mitigate the risk of over-crowding at the school.

Current and proposed home zone (right click to open in a new window)

The amended enrolment scheme is proposed to commence from 29 April 2024 (Term 2).

Any siblings of current students currently residing in the withdrawal area may be able to enrol at the school under the specific “additional entitlement to enrol” provision (this is also known as 'Grandparenting'). Please see the attachment below for further information.

There is an existing transitional arrangement in place that was approved in 2018 for the amendment that commenced from 01 January 2019. This transitional arrangement can be retained.

The written description will also be updated and the enrolment scheme wording will be updated to reflect the Education and Training Act 2020.

All learners/ākonga who live within the home zone of Lincoln Primary School will have an entitlement to attend the school and those that live outside the home zone may be accepted if there are out-of-zone places available and an application meets legislative requirements. To be able to do this, boards at state schools keep an eye on the number of applications received from in-zone students to help them determine the places they might have available for out-of-zone students once all in-zone enrolments are accepted.

Note that all students who are already enrolled at Lincoln Primary School before the enrolment scheme amendment commences are entitled to stay at Lincoln Primary School. Siblings of current students will have priority access to any out-of-zone places offered by the school.

It is important that we hear and understand community perspectives before we establish this amendment to the enrolment scheme at Lincoln Primary School – especially the design and practical implications of the proposed home zone amendment.  Please have a look at the map and information available before you participate in the consultation process.

This consultation process is about enrolment schemes, which determine the entitlement to enrol.  It is important to note that a student’s eligibility to enrol may be different to their eligibility for School Transport assistance.  Further information about eligibility to school transport can be found here.

Information (please read this before completing the survey)

Map and written description of proposed home zone (right click to open in a new window) 

Map only with current and proposed home zone (right click to open in a new window)

Frequently Asked Questions (right click to open in a new window) 

Additional entitlement to enrol information (right click to open in a new window) 

What happens next

After consultation is finished, the Ministry of Education will collate all feedback and process this information to ensure it meets the requirements of the Education and Training Act 2020 (Schedule 20, Clause 5). If the Ministry is satisfied that the enrolment scheme meets these requirements, the enrolment scheme will be finalised and provided to the school board. The board must implement the finalised enrolment scheme as soon as practicable.