Do you think there is a great school in the Wellington region?

I'm a cynical, disillusioned ex-secondary school teacher. Yes, there is a great school in the Wellington area; the Correspondence School. I've taught in classrooms and also helped kids with Correspondence School work, and I studied a paper with them myself. Most NZ schools have gone to hell in a basket since Tomorrow's Schools was brought in during the 1980s. It was nothing more than a cost-cutting exercise at the expense of kids, teachers and parents. Truancy officers were dispensed with and there are now tens of thousands of kids who aren't even enrolled at school. The maximum penalty for not sending your kids to school is a small fine, and there are only one or two prosecutions a year. Special needs students are mainstreamed, which is a euphemism for putting them in ordinary classes and terminating their special treatment, so a teacher often has to devote more attention to one disruptive, violent or disabled student than to all the other 20 kids in the class. Many schools are bulk funded, so there is a powerful incentive for management to waste money on high-profile flashy projects to attract out of zone students than on essentials. In 1990 I was informed in June that my science department had spent its entire year's stationery budget, and if I wanted any more photocopying I'd have to pay for it out of my own pocket. Later that year the school bought sports uniforms for all its students. Some principals spend tens of thousands of dollars a year gallivanting around the world to recruit fee paying students from overseas, and some schools spend more on advertising than on building maintenance. Most boards of trustees have been taken over to a greater or lesser degree by cliques of religious nutters or self-serving empire builders. Remember in the coming election that only one or two left wing political parties intend to correct this situation and increase education spending.

Hutt Valley High School. Despite publicity it undeservedly received in the late 50s, and again in 2007, it is no better or no worse than any other school. And, for the Hutt Valley it's in a central and easily accessible location.