devonportflagstaff.co.nz
Old-schOOl extra-mile service and tip-tOp results, time after time Helen Michell 021 210 3228
a lt O G e t h e r B e t t e r
May 17, 2024
Pub sessions contribute to graphic novel... p5
Local MP’s signs XXX... p14 breach bylaw... p11
Licensed under the reA Act 2008
Interview: Actor Niwa Whatuira... p26-27
Most peninsula primary school rolls suffer big falls All but two of the seven primary schools on the Devonport peninsula have had their rolls fall in the last decade – one of them by 55 per cent. Pupil numbers at St Leo’s Catholic School have dropped from 102 to just 45 since 2014. Ministry of Education figures show big falls
have also been suffered at Vauxhall School (down 34 per cent, from 287 to 189), Devonport Primary School (31 per cent, from 312 to 215) and Bayswater School (31 per cent, from 198 to 135). Stanley Bay School’s roll is down 20 per cent, with a fall from 278 to 220 pupils.
The two growing schools are Hauraki School (up 10 per cent, from 428 to 472) and Belmont Primary School (up nine per cent, from 383 to 420). Several of the school principals suggested high house prices were a reason for the fallTo page 2
TGS Queen show a right royal success
xxxx Full noise... Māui Hitchens as Killer Queen and Takapuna Grammar School dancers in the school’s production of We Will Rock You, at the Bruce Mason Centre last week. Story and more photos, pages 38-39.