The Busy School Auckland

We are aware of four applications to establish charter secondary schools in Auckland. Two of the applications seemed to be very strong

Tipene St Stephen's the rebirth of the famous Maori boarding school headed by two leading Maori educators. Tipene is not one of the six charter schools named so far to start in Term One, 2025
Alwyn Poole's "City 1113" a University Entrance focussed senior secondary school. Alwyn's application for four charter schools was rejected and he has been vigourous in raising concerns about the process.

Then there was our application for Auckland Sports College. We have a "trust but verify" approach to the Charter School Agency and the Charter School Authorisation Board. We invested a huge amount of effort into both our Stage One and Stage Two applications but were happy to trust the process, despite the considerable surprise expressed by a variety of people that our application had not been imediately successful. However the successful application for an Auckland charter secondary school is extraordinarily weak (The BUSY school). We would go so far as to say that The BUSY School should never have even advanced to Stage 2. The BUSY School is, in the NZ system, a small Private Training Establishment, and should be competing with other tertiary providers for Youth Guarantee funding. So, we are attempting to verify that both a proper process was used and that The BUSY School was a better choice than Auckland Sports College for a Term One 2025 opening as a secondary school.

In response to a threat of legal action by Alwyn Poole, Jane Lee, CEO of the Charter School Agency was reported as saying the CSA had run a 'very fair process' which had been independently assessed by Audit NZ. There is a link to the independent assessment at https://www.charterschools.govt.nz/documents/. It says nothing about the key elements of 'fairness' - natural justice (the right of applicants to respond to concerns) and the obligation of decision makers to base their decisions on relevant considerations only. It's pretty clear that the assessment process strayed into areas that the applicants had not been asked about. The process was not fair.

In his press release of 19 September 2024 Associate-Minister Seymour wrote "Charter schools provide educators with greater autonomy, create diversity in New Zealand’s education system, free educators from state and union interference, and raise overall educational achievement, especially for students who are underachieving or disengaged from the current system.”

Can The Busy School raise overall educational achievement for students who are disengaged or disengaging from the current system?

This is the key question, and the answer is 'No'. Students at The Busy School attend 'school' for only two days a week. The Busy School aims to enrol students who are disengaged or disengaging. According to the www.thebusyschool.org.nz website students take three core subjects - English, Mathematics, and one other with "additional electives/courses from a range of Vocational Education and Training Unit Standards". There was some information on the website about the content covered in English and Mathematics. The English and Mathematics courses were insufficient to achieve the NCEA literacy and numeracy corequisites. This is the biggest initial obstacle. NCEA Level 2 can be obtained through unit standards, but if The Busy School students can't achieve the externally assessed Common Assessment Activities (CAA), they can't be awarded NCEA.

The BUSY School will not offer University Entrance. This is the key reason why we do not believe it is a secondary school. Secondary schools offer advancing Achievement Standard assessed courses in a range of UE approved subjects to NCEA Level 3. The BUSY School does not do this and should not be a secondary school.

Auckland Sports College is unfunded, so our 10 students have been assessed through Te Kura, the correspondence school.

Year 11 We had two Year 11 students. Both completed the NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisites. One, who was excluded from his school in May, completed the requirements of NCEA Level 2. The other, who joined us in August with 7 NCEA Level 1 credits, having been suspended from his previous school, has completed the requirements of NCEA Level One with 11 Level 2 Achievement Standard credits in mathematics. Both students had been excluded/suspended for fighting.

Year 12 We had six Level 2 students this year. Four were new. Three of the four came to us having been expelled. All three have met the requirements of NCEA Level 2. One has achieved (with Excellence) ten credits in Level 3 calculus. Another has six credits in Level 3 calculus. The fourth new Level 2 student left school early in Term One. He was able to complete NCEA Level One with us and achieved 45 of the 60 credits required for NCEA Level 2 before finding full-time work and leaving us. We also had two continuing students who had left school at the beginning of 2023 having 'failed' Year 10 and being offered the choice of either repeating Year 10 or joining the school's Services Academy. Both completed NCEA Level 2 with us and are now halfway through an electrical pre-apprenticeship course.

Year 13. Our two Year 13 students both joined us in July 2023, their Year 12, having been removed from the roll of their previous school ("kiwi expulsions"). Both have been offered places in the B.Eng (Hons) degree at AUT.

Auckland Sports College is a "second chance" school. In this respect we are similar to The Busy School, but The Busy School is not even going to attempt to match us for "raised overall educational achievement". Which school should be opening in Term One, 2025?

Will The Busy School enrol all eligible students?

No. Section 212U of the Education and Training Act reads "A charter school must enrol all domestic students entitled to free enrolment and free education under section 33 who apply to the school". But, The Busy School website states "Each application is assessed on merit and will be complimented [sic] by a face-to-face interview with the Principal" and "The BUSY School has zero tolerance to behaviours that violate the rights of others, or put others or yourself at risk of harm." The school's website talks about youth who are disengaged (e.g falling attendance or falling academic performance) rather than those who have been dropped from, or who have dropped out of, school. It's also unclear whether The BUSY School will enrol students who have completed NCEA Level 2, or who want to complete NCEA Level 2 or 3 by sitting external exams in subjects like calculus and physics.

At Auckland Sports College we have welcomed youth who have been expelled from school for violence and who have been denied enrolment at other state schools. One of our youth is currently before the Courts after his violent outburst was the lead story in the NZ Herald.

Auckland Sports College is prepared to enrol students, and has a history of success with students, who would not be accepted at The BUSY School. Our contribution to the wider school network is greater.

Does The Busy School have satisfactory policies and procedures?

On The BUSY School website policies are said to be "Coming soon". While this recognises that what works in Australia may not work in New Zealand it also indicates that The BUSY School lacks experience and knowledge of the NZ schooling system.

Auckland Sports College has a full suite of policies. These are very similar to those of NZ secondary schools and can be accessed on this website.

Is The BUSY School viable?

In its submission to the select committee The Busy Schools revealed that it had 1,450 students enrolled across its nine campuses in Australia. That is 160 students per campus. With such a small roll The BUSY School will not be able to offer the NZ curriculum. This seems to be conceded by the school, as all students will be studying the same three subjects from the NZ curriculum (Mathematics, English, and Social Studies). This is unacceptable. Secondary school students in NZ, especially as senior level, should have a choice of subjects. The BUSY School should never have been considered as a secondary school. Its proper place in the NZ education system is as a small Private Training Establishment (PTE) competing with other tertiary providers for Youth Guarantee funding.

At Auckland Sports College we had good applications from teachers to offer Accounting, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, Economics, English, Geography, Health Education, History, Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, and Statistics at University Entrance level (Level 3). The BUSY School does not offer any UE subjects at Level 3.

Does The BUSY School have teachers?

No. The school is advertising on its website and on 'Seek' for English and Mathematics teachers as well as a principal and other staff. It has no advertisements in the Education Gazette yet. Teachers need to give 8 weeks notice in NZ. The BUSY School may not have teachers until Week 3 or 4 of Term One.

Auckland Sports College would have been fully staffed for the beginning of Term One.

There are a number of things that the Charter School Authorisation Board was required to consider when considering applications. These included

the focus of the proposed charter school
the capability of the sponsor including its experience and knowledge of the New Zealand schooling system and its financial and governance capability
the standard of tuition to be provided including the mode of curriculum delivery and the regularity of instruction
the financial implications for the Crown if the charter school is established
whether the purpose of establishing a network of schools that allows every student to access quality schooling and provides choice about the types of education would be achieved if the proposed charter school is established
the level of support for the proposed charter school from the community in which it is proposed to be established
any other matters that the Authorisation Board considers relevant

We intend to provide links to the relevant parts of our application and that of The BUSY School for each of these. seven, as well as for the three criteria below

Charter school applicants were told that their Stage Two applications would be assessed on three criteria - sponsor capability, contribution to the wider school network, operational fitness

Sponsor Capability

Contribution to the Wider School Network

Operational Fitness

The BUSY School is not a secondary school in New Zealand. It is a small Private Training Establishment

The first duty of a charter school sponsor is "to ensure that every student at the school is able to attain the highest possible standard of educational achievement". Students at The BUSY School cannot attain University Entrance or scholarship. They cannot do this because the school does not provide a pathway to UE or scholarship. In our view, The BUSY School sponsor cannot be offered a charter school contract until the school provides a pathway to UE for its students. We are assuming that a key contract term will require The BUSY School sponsor to comply with the provisions of the Education and Training Act.

What The BUSY School offers is a narrow set of unit standards leading to a qualification. This is characteristic of small Private Training Establishments with Youth Guarantee funding from the Tertiary Education Funding. The BUSY School should be advised to register as a PTE and apply for that funding stream.

Auckland Sports College

"Moving Forward Together"