Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education
31 January 2013
First Partnership School to open today
The first of five Partnership Schools | Kura Hourua will be opened today in Auckland by Prime Minister John Key.
Partnership Schools are part of the Government’s confidence and supply arrangement between the National and ACT parties,
who are working together to identify significant improvements in school performance.
Prime Minister John Key, Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Pita Sharples will speak at
the ceremony, at South Auckland Middle School in Manurewa. ACT Party leader John Banks will also be in attendance.
“It is exciting to see the first of these Partnership Schools open,” Ms Parata says.
“Partnership Schools offer a new and innovative approach to raising achievement and are required to ensure that all
children and young people that attend them are able to succeed. They also allow parents to have a greater choice of the
type of education that best suits their children’s specific needs.
“Our Government is committed to raising achievement for 5 out of 5 of our children and young people, so we can’t keep
doing all the same things we have always done. We have a very good education system that works for most, but not all.
Partnership Schools offer another option for educational success,” Ms Parata says.
“Each of the five new schools has its own unique character, will follow the New Zealand curriculum, and will be fully
accountable for delivering higher educational achievement for their students.”
Dr Sharples says, “If we are serious about addressing inequality in Aotearoa, then we need to do more to support Māori
and Pasifika educational achievement. Kura Hourua are an opportunity to tailor learning to suit these students and
others, and also to bring choice to whānau looking to cater to the unique needs of their child.”
“This is an initiative that provides us all with an opportunity to learn and apply new ways of working with our
tamariki.”
The four other schools, which are Vanguard Military Academy (Albany), the Rise UP Academy (Māngere), Te Kura Hourua o
Whangarei (Northland) and Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru (Northland), are all opening in February 2014.
ENDS