Source: Radio New Zealand
The Education Ministry has opened consultation on closing Westbridge Residential School. Supplied / Westbridge Residential School
The Education Ministry has proposed shutting down a struggling boarding school for children with extreme behaviour problems due to fears for their safety and education.
This week it opened consultation on closing Westbridge Residential School, one of just three residential schools for students with disabilities.
Accompanying documents showed the Auckland school had been under close scrutiny for at least two years and had a roll of just six students in the middle of last year.
“Despite ongoing interventions and governance support, significant concerns remain regarding the ongoing health and safety of students and the quality of education that is provided at the school,” the consultation paper said.
The school’s future has been in doubt for several years due in part to low enrolments and to criticism of residential schools generally.
The Education Review Office (ERO) warned of a high number of physical assaults and property damage in a 2023 report and again in 2024, with a follow-up report in 2025 saying those problems had continued though at a reduced level due to the school having fewer students.
A briefing for Education Minister Erica Stanford said ERO recommended at the end of 2024 that enrolments stop until the school could confirm it met the needs of its students, prompting the acting Secretary for Education to personally take over responsibility for approving enrolments.
The ministry appointed a limited statutory manger to the school in March last year, escalating to a commissioner in June that year.
The briefing said Westbridge had previously enrolled children aged 8-12 years, but that changed to include 13-15-year-olds.
“These older students have more complex and challenging social, and/or learning needs (including drugs and alcohol use), and also require the school to provide access to NCEA pathways,” it said.
The report said students typically enrolled at the school for a few months and over the past five years its roll averaged 9-10 students.
The school had shared a board of trustees with another residential special school, Halswell in Christchurch, but the board found it difficult to manage two separate sites and last year asked to be split into two separate boards.
The briefing said previous Westbridge students had lodged historic abuse claims which the school’s commissioner was dealing with.
The briefing said ERO last year found improvements at the school following earlier criticism.
It said that included training for staff, ensuring students’ access to psychological and specialist services continued after they arrived at the school, and monitoring students’ social and behavioural goals.
But it also concluded that student health and safety remained a problem.
“Assaults and property damage continue. Some incidents, such as continued physical aggression towards teaching staff are not always documented or recorded by staff,” it said.
“Despite some improvements, the curriculum at Westbridge is not currently fit for purpose for secondary students.”
The briefing said the ministry was confident students currently at the school were not at the same level of risk as at the end of 2024.
It said incidents involving students would remain a challenge and it questioned whether Westbridge was providing effectively for students.
Consultation would close on 15 March and Westbridge could be shut down by July or August this year.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
