Ministry defends cut in grant for academy students
Wednesday, 01 September 2010
THE Ministry of Education says it has paid out $100,000 in establishment costs for the Eastern Bay Trades Academy and will fund it at a rate of $1250 per student.
It says Trident High School will receive about $1.89 million in its operations grant budget based on the assumption that the roll remains unchanged at 1224 students.
However, the school will only receive operations funding for the time that students attend the school – four days out of five in the case of trades academy students. The remainder of the funding will go to tertiary provider Waiariki Institute of Technology.
Education minister and East Coast MP Anne Tolley said the academies reflected a flexible system to keep students engaged in education.
“This shares resources is based on the needs of students,” she said.
“Without the trades academy, many of these students may have left school – meaning the school would have received no operations funding for them.
“Trident applied in a national expression of interest to establish a trades academy, and this reflects the school’s recognition of the benefits of this approach to its students.”
Mrs Tolley said she was delighted that one of the nine new academies had been confirmed for Whakatane.
“Trades academies are an innovative approach to keeping 16- and 17-year-olds in education, as they develop their vocational skills and talents through trades and technology programmes.
“It is fantastic that the young people in the Eastern Bay community will have the opportunity to participate in one of the many programmes offered through the new trades academy.”
Waiariki chief executive Pim Borren said there had been an issue with vocational pathways from secondary schools into tertiary education.
“This is an opportunity to work together to make this transition smoother.
“As well as the work of Peter Tootell on this project, Rosemary Johnson, our Whakatane regional development manager, has done a fantastic job.”
Whakatane High School principal Chris Nielsen said he was excited by the prospect of collaboration with other secondary schools and Waiariki.
“It is significant that this Eastern Bay project may be a model that will expand and be built on.”