 Home | Reports | Profiles | Issue Papers | About the Project | Project Sponsors | Te Reo Maori |
Otamatea Christian Schoolhttps://www.otamateachristianschool.com/ |
|
| # of unique students – 2 Type of provider – School, private Primary distance modality – Independent Study |
Background
Otamatea Christian School is a co-educational, private composite school based in Maungaturoto (Northland) that was established in 1987 as a brick-and-mortar school. The Education and Training Act, 2020 defines a composite school as “a school that offers education to students in any of years 1 to 8 and in any of years 9 to 13” (Government of New Zealand, 2024a, p. 38). Otamatea Christian School offers students both an in person or face-to-face option and a distance learning option. The school indicates that their O.C.S. Distance Learning option was newly approved in 2022.
Governance
According to the Education and Training Act 2020, a private school is defined as a school registered under section 214, which reads:
214 Registration of private schools
(1) This section applies if the managers of an existing school or proposed school wish the school to be registered as a private school under this section.
(2) The managers must apply to the Secretary, on a form provided by the Secretary for the purpose, for its provisional registration as a primary, secondary, or special private school, or as a school of 2 or all of those descriptions.
(3) The provisional and full registration of private schools, and the operation of private schools, must be done in accordance with Schedule 7. (p. 164)
Schedule 7 of the act provides approximately 10 pages of legislative regulation around the following areas.
- Provisional and full registration of private schools
- Criteria for registration as private school
- Suitable premises
- Additional and substituted premises to be approved
- Tuition standards
- Managers to be fit and proper persons
- Manager must have regard to statement of national education and learning priorities
- Managers must advise Secretary of school ceasing operation
- Review of private schools
- Secretary’s actions in relation to private schools
- Duration of suspension
- Process for cancellation of registration
- Grants for private schools
- Record-keeping in relation to grants to private schools
- Providing accounts to Secretary
- Suspensions and expulsions from private schools
Beyond these general guidelines, the response from the school leadership indicated that information around how the school was governed were “confidential.”
Resourcing
As a private school, Otamatea Christian School is primarily resourced through individual tuition paid by the students and their families. According to the school’s website, the current fees are:
Distance Learning:
$6,000.00 per annum / $1,500.00 per quarter
Curriculum Resources and Stationery:
$600.00 per annum / $150.00 per quarter
Additionally, the government does provide grants to private schools through the private school subsidy funding pool (Ministry of Education, 2024a), which is distributed at a set rate per student. According to Circular 2022/08 – Private School Subsidy Funding 2023 the rates for 2023 were (Ministry of Education, 2022):
| Year Level | 2023 Funding Rate GST Exclusive | 2023 Funding Rate GST Inclusive |
| Year 1-6 | $880.54 | $1,012.62 |
| Year 7-8 | $964.23 | $1,108.87 |
| Year 9-10 | $1,234.01 | $1,419.11 |
| Year 11-15 | $1,874.16 | $2,155.28 |
Based on the data from Official Information Act Request 1321408, Otamatea Christian School received funds in 2023 from this subsidy (Ministry of Education, 2024b). Unfortunately, the response to the request only lists the schools that received funding, and not the amount of funding or any details on how it was used.
Programming
The programming offered by Otamatea Christian School is based on the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum, which was developed by an American company and is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible with a conservative, evangelical perspective. It should be noted that there has been a long history of criticism of the ACE curriculum (see Berliner, 1997; Fleming & Hunt, 1987; Laats, 2010). The school’s website indicates that “at enrolment all students sit diagnostic tests to identify gaps in learning which need addressing. Students are prescribed individual programmes of work.”
The work that is prescribed are Packets of Accelerated Christian Education (PACEs). The school describes their instructional model as follows:
“Each subject is presented in a series of self-instructional workbooks, called PACEs, progressively graduated so that new concepts and truths build upon previously mastered ones. An 80% pass mark is required in each PACE before a student is permitted to proceed to the next PACE. Twelve PACEs represent one year’s work in each subject.”
While students are under the supervision of teachers at Otamatea, the school provides parents with training on how they can help their child get the most out of distance learning, and then advises that
- Parents are to be on hand to supervise their children daily to encourage and monitor their progress.
- Parents will receive educational resources which they will need to keep secure.
- Parents will have the control over student access to score keys and tests.
- Parents assist the school by sending completed tests back for marking and filing.
- Parents will be involved directly in the learning of their children, but will not be responsible for teaching students.
Activity
The 2023 school year was the first year that Otamatea Christian School offered their O.C.S. Distance Learning option. The Education Counts website indicated that the school had an enrolment of 31 students, eight of whom were of Māori descent, eight of whom were ranging from Year 1 to Year 12. However, there were only two Year 12 students enrolled in the O.C.S. Distance Learning option.
References
Berliner, D. (1997). Educational psychology meets the Christian right: Differing views of children, schooling, teaching, and learning. Teachers College Record, 98(3), 381-416.
Fleming, D. B., & Hunt, T. C. (1987). The world as seen by students in Accelerated Christian Education schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 68(7), 518-523.
Government of New Zealand. (2024a). Education and training act 2020. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS170676.html
Laats, A. (2010). Forging a fundamentalist “one best system”: Struggles over curriculum and educational philosophy for Christian day schools, 1970-1989. History of Education Quarterly, 49(1), 55-83.
Ministry of Education (2022). Circular 2022/08 – Private school subsidy funding 2023. Government of New Zealand. https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/publications/education-circulars/latest-circulars/circular-2022-2/
Ministry of Education (2024a). Resourcing information for private schools. Government of New Zealand. https://www.education.govt.nz/school/funding-and-financials/resourcing/private-schools-resourcing-information/
Ministry of Education (2024b). Responses to Official Information Act requests. Government of New Zealand. https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/information-releases/responses-to-official-information-act-requests/