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1News
2 days ago
- Sport
- 1News
Ban on 'Year 14s' proposed for all school sport
The controversial practice of Year 14 students competing in secondary school sports events will be banned under proposed new eligibility rules. School Sport NZ on Wednesday released its draft eligibility rules following a lengthy review. Among the key proposed rule changes is a blanket ban on students returning for a sixth year of high school — known as year 14s — from competing in School Sport NZ sanctioned events. The year 14 issue has been the subject of debate within top-flight secondary school events for decades, with critics claiming the practice stokes a "win at all costs" attitude. The debate came to a head in high school rowing earlier this year when a group of high school principals banded together to force a vote on the eligibility rules for the Maadi Regatta. ADVERTISEMENT The schools overwhelmingly voted in favour of a rule change banning year 14 rowers from competing in the prestigious event. The issue has also been fiercely debated in rugby circles this season after RNZ revealed Marlborough Boys' College, one of the top rugby schools in the South Island, had five year 14s in its line-up this year. School Sport NZ chairperson and principal of Shirley Boys' High School Tim Grocott said it is hoped the proposed rule changes, which would also include new anti-poaching measures, would address many longstanding challenges in secondary school sport. "What we're really saying is that we're wanting greater integrity, greater fairness, and greater consistency across competitions," said Grocott. "Where that integrity piece fits really clearly is at the championship level. So at that top tier of competition, we're wanting to see as best as possible a level playing field existing." Grocott said after receiving a strong mandate from principals to change the eligibility for the Maadi Cup earlier this year, there was a push to ensure the rules were consistent across all sports. "Really what we want to do is re-emphasise that educational piece. Students are at school for their education, and the sport is a byproduct of that. ADVERTISEMENT "If people want to come back for year 14, then that's fine if it's for an educational purpose. It isn't for a sporting purpose." Marlborough Boys' College principal Jarrod Dunn told RNZ last month his school did not set out to stack its rugby team with year 14s to gain a competitive advantage. He said in previous years the school may have had "one or two" students return for year 14, but this year was an "anomaly" in that they had a large cohort of eight students return to school due to the current social climate making it difficult for young people to find employment in the region. Dunn said he did not think it was fair to deny the year 14 boys the opportunity to participate in all areas of school life. As was the case with rowing, the proposed rules would allow schools to apply for a dispensation to field a year 14 athlete where there were "valid educational grounds for a student's continued enrolment in year 14". It was understood schools would need to meet a strict set of criteria before a dispensation could be granted. Three schools applied for an exemption to field a year 14 student at this year's Maadi Regatta at Lake Kārapiro — all three were declined. ADVERTISEMENT Shirley Boys' High School headmaster Tim Grocott said the new eligibility rules are aimed at levelling the playing field in high school sport. (Source: 'Poaching' and homeschool competitor rules The proposed changes also included updated guidelines on student transfers, poaching, composite teams, and dispensations. Under the new rules, the definition of poaching was strengthened to "include any act of influencing, encouraging or approaching a student to transfer to another school for the purposes of sport participation", whether directly or indirectly through a third party. Grocott said the "new to school" rules had also been tightened to introduce a new transfer process. If a student wanted to compete in a championship level event for a new school, statutory declarations must be signed by the transferring student, their caregivers and the principal of the new school. "We're wanting to clamp down on those behaviours around influencing, encouraging, approaching, and providing inducements for students to move from one school to another," he said. "It flies in the face of that educational piece that we're wanting to see." ADVERTISEMENT However, the summary document released to principals on Tuesday did not include proposed rules for home-schooled students. Currently, School Sport NZ rules allowed students who were home-schooled to compete in secondary school events, but they were not eligible to win medals or titles. The issue was thrust into the spotlight in April this year when Tauranga mountain-biker Amelia Twiss placed second in the North Island Secondary Schools championships, but was denied a medal. "The board is still considering how best to include [home school students], and once a recommended approach is confirmed, it will be consulted on separately and incorporated into the final draft where appropriate," the document stated. The consultation period for the draft regulations would close on September 12. School Sport NZ chief executive Mike Summerell said input from schools would be critical in shaping the final version of the regulations. The new regulations would apply to all School Sport NZ-sanctioned events from January 1, 2026. ADVERTISEMENT
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
School Sport NZ proposes ban on Year 14 student athletes in competitions
The debate came to a head in high school rowing earlier this year when a group of high school principals banded together to force a vote on the eligibility rules for the Maadi Regatta. The schools overwhelmingly voted in favour of a rule change banning Year 14 rowers from competing in the prestigious event. The issue has also been fiercely debated in rugby circles this season after RNZ revealed Marlborough Boys' College, one of the top rugby schools in the South Island, had five Year 14s in its line-up this year. SSNZ chairperson and principal of Shirley Boys' High School Tim Grocott said it is hoped the proposed rule changes, which would also include new anti-poaching measures, would address many longstanding challenges in secondary school sport. 'What we're really saying is that we're wanting greater integrity, greater fairness, and greater consistency across competitions,' said Grocott. 'Where that integrity piece fits really clearly is at the championship level. So at that top tier of competition, we're wanting to see as best as possible a level playing field existing.' Tim Grocott, principal of Shirley Boys' High School, says other principals may have said "we don't think that's right" if they'd known earlier about the number of Year 14s in the Marlborough Boys' team Photo / RNZ Niva Chittock Grocott said after receiving a strong mandate from principals to change the eligibility for the Maadi Cup earlier this year, there was a push to ensure the rules were consistent across all sports. 'Really what we want to do is re-emphasise that educational piece. Students are at school for their education, and the sport is a byproduct of that. 'If people want to come back for Year 14, then that's fine if it's for an educational purpose. It isn't for a sporting purpose.' Marlborough Boys' College principal Jarrod Dunn told RNZ last month his school did not set out to stack its rugby team with Year 14s to gain a competitive advantage. He said in previous years the school may have had 'one or two' students return for Year 14, but this year is an 'anomaly' in that they had a large cohort of eight students return to school because of the current social climate making it difficult for young people to find employment in the region. Dunn said he did not think it was fair to deny the Year 14 boys the opportunity to participate in all areas of school life. As is the case with rowing, the proposed rules would allow schools to apply for a dispensation to field a Year 14 athlete where there were 'valid educational grounds for a student's continued enrolment in Year 14'. It's understood schools would need to meet a strict set of criteria before a dispensation could be granted. Three schools applied for an exemption to field a Year 14 student at this year's Maadi Regatta at Lake Kārapiro – all three were declined. 'Poaching' and home school competitor rules The proposed changes also include updated guidelines on student transfers, poaching, composite teams and dispensations. Under the new rules, the definition of poaching has been strengthened to 'include any act of influencing, encouraging or approaching a student to transfer to another school for the purposes of sport participation', whether directly or indirectly through a third party. Grocott said the 'new to school' rules have also been tightened to introduce a new transfer process. If a student wants to compete in a championship level event for a new school, statutory declarations must be signed by the transferring student, their caregivers and the principal of the new school. 'We're wanting to clamp down on those behaviours around influencing, encouraging, approaching, and providing inducements for students to move from one school to another,' he said. 'It flies in the face of that educational piece that we're wanting to see.' However, the summary document released to principals on Tuesday did not include proposed rules for home-school students. Currently, School Sport NZ rules allow students who are home-schooled to compete in secondary school events, but they are not eligible to win medals or titles. The issue was thrust into the spotlight in April this year when Tauranga mountain-biker Amelia Twiss placed second in the North Island Secondary Schools championships, but was denied a medal. 'The board is still considering how best to include [home school students], and once a recommended approach is confirmed, it will be consulted on separately and incorporated into the final draft where appropriate,' the document stated. The consultation period for the draft regulations closes on September 12. SSNZ chief executive Mike Summerell said input from schools would be critical in shaping the final version of the regulations. The new regulations would apply to all SSNZ-sanctioned events from January 1, 2026.
Otago Daily Times
05-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Christchurch school brings back traditional single-cell rooms
A second Canterbury school has made the costly move to ditch its near-new open plan classrooms. Shirley Boys' High School is spending $800,000 to transform its open plan classrooms, built in 2019, into single-cell rooms. When Shirley Boys High was rebuilt after being damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes the Ministry of Education was in the midst of a push for open plan classrooms, the Innovative Learning Environments. Shirley Boys High was one of a number of Christchurch schools being rebuilt or repaired which joined the movement. Six years after its brand new building opened, Shirley Boys' High principal Tim Grocott said it was obvious the open plan classrooms were not working for students or staff. "The level of distraction was just too high. There was too much movement going on. They can hear what is happening in the class next door - "oh that's sounds interesting over there, I wonder what they are doing". Particularly if something was being played on TV or anything like that. So that level of distraction was a negative factor." Grocott said the shared spaces meant that teachers had to do what they could to limit noise, whereas now they can teach in far more engaging ways. "To be a character, to be at the front and tell a story and have the boys laughing and all of those sorts of things that add to the enjoyment of learning - they couldn't do it. Because that would be distracting other classes around them." In 2024, Shirley Boys' High also did a formal inquiry into how students and staff were finding the open-plan rooms, and Grocott said the widespread unhappiness that was found meant they needed to respond. It will cost the school $800k to make the change, and Grocott said the school was in the lucky position of being able to cover that from school reserves put aside by the board over the last 10 years. The first part of the changeover was completed in the last school holidays, and the final stage will be done in the next school holidays. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive and instantaneous. "Hugely positive feedback. The staff on the first day were absolutely thrilled. One of our teachers was hugging the walls in her classroom because she was so thrilled to have walls. But the boys are just much happier," said Grocott. Grocott said his view is that open plan classrooms are a flawed concept that just did not work for his school. A year ago, Rangiora High School finished the process of changing an open plan building, built in 2018, to single-cell classes. Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney said the feedback has been amazing. "The results have been a huge shift in engagement, in attendance, in achievement. It is not what I was expecting. I was expecting a small shift, but its gone through the roof, its made a massive difference in everything in the school." Kearney said while the open plan classrooms didn't work for his school, they may work for others, and his key bit of advice was to review them, and make changes if needed. Minister of Education Erica Stanford said open plan classrooms do work well for some schools, but she said she knows many schools want to switch back to single-cell rooms. She said that decision is up to the schools. "It seems to be a fad that comes and goes, but I think that the evidence is really tending more and more these days towards to making sure there are spaces that are quiet, potentially modular for children to learn. Especially for children with additional learning needs." In a statement, the Ministry of Education's Head of Property, Sam Fowler said the Ministry was aware some schools have converted open-plan classrooms to single-cell classrooms, and that there were schools where such work is currently underway or planned for the future. The Ministry does not have figures on how many schools have or want to convert such spaces. Fowler said schools in New Zealand are self-governing through their boards, meaning they are responsible for decisions regarding their daily operations and teaching and learning programmes. This includes choices about learning space configurations, and whether classrooms are open-plan or single-cell. He said new and redeveloped school buildings were designed for flexibility, enabling schools to tailor spaces to their preferred approach, but the Ministry was also implementing a programme of increased standardisation to ensure new buildings provide consistent and adaptable solutions for schools. The president of the Post Primary Teachers Association, Chris Abercrombie said the merits or otherwise of open plan classrooms was a frequent topic for teachers. He said the open-plan rooms can have positives, but require training on how best to use it. "Apart from one or two exceptions, very little thought seems to be given to that professional development. How to use the space effectively, how to teach there, how to often team teach, how to work together in that manner is often missing in that space." Abercrombie said the clear push from the Ministry towards open plan classrooms has died off, but the PPTA would still like to see proper research into their impact.
Otago Daily Times
05-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
'Flawed concept': Canterbury high school ditches open-plan rooms
A second Christchurch school has made the costly move to ditch its near-new open-plan classrooms. Shirley Boys' High school is spending $800,000 to transform its open-plan classrooms, built in 2019, into single-cell rooms. When Shirley Boys' was rebuilt after being damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes, the Ministry of Education was in the midst of a push for open plan classrooms, the Innovative Learning Environments. Shirley Boys' was one of a number of Christchurch schools being rebuilt or repaired which joined the movement. Six years after its brand new building opened, Shirley Boys' principal Tim Grocott said it was obvious the open-plan classrooms were not working for students or staff. "The level of distraction was just too high. There was too much movement going on. They can hear what is happening in the class next door - "oh that's sounds interesting over there, I wonder what they are doing". Particularly if something was being played on TV or anything like that. So that level of distraction was a negative factor." Grocott said the shared spaces meant that teachers had to do what they could to limit noise, whereas now they could teach in far more engaging ways. "To be a character, to be at the front and tell a story and have the boys laughing and all of those sorts of things that add to the enjoyment of learning - they couldn't do it. Because that would be distracting other classes around them." In 2024, Shirley Boys' also did a formal inquiry into how students and staff were finding the open-plan rooms, and Grocott said the widespread unhappiness that was found meant they needed to respond. It will cost the school $800,000 to make the change, and Grocott said the school was in the lucky position of being able to cover that from school reserves put aside by the board over the last 10 years. The first part of the changeover was completed in the last school holidays, and the final stage would be done in the next school holidays. The feedback so far had been overwhelmingly positive and instantaneous. "Hugely positive feedback. The staff on the first day were absolutely thrilled. One of our teachers was hugging the walls in her classroom because she was so thrilled to have walls. But the boys are just much happier," Grocott said. Grocott said his view was that open-plan classrooms were a flawed concept that just did not work for his school. A year ago, Rangiora High School finished the process of changing an open-plan building, built in 2018, to single-cell classes. Rangiora High principal Bruce Kearney said the feedback had been amazing. "The results have been a huge shift in engagement, in attendance, in achievement. It is not what I was expecting. I was expecting a small shift, but its gone through the roof, its made a massive difference in everything in the school." Kearney said while the open-plan classrooms didn't work for his school, they may work for others, and his key bit of advice was to review them, and make changes if needed. Minister of Education Erica Stanford said open-plan classrooms did work well for some schools, but she said she knew many schools wanted to switch back to single-cell rooms. She said that decision was up to the schools. "It seems to be a fad that comes and goes, but I think that the evidence is really tending more and more these days towards to making sure there are spaces that are quiet, potentially modular for children to learn. Especially for children with additional learning needs." In a statement, the Ministry of Education's Head of Property, Sam Fowler, said the ministry was aware some schools had converted open-plan classrooms to single-cell classrooms, and that there were schools where such work was currently under way or planned for the future. The ministry did not have figures on how many schools had or wanted to convert such spaces. Fowler said schools in New Zealand were self-governing through their boards, meaning they were responsible for decisions regarding their daily operations and teaching and learning programmes. This included choices about learning space configurations, and whether classrooms were open-plan or single-cell. He said new and redeveloped school buildings were designed for flexibility, enabling schools to tailor spaces to their preferred approach, but the ministry was also implementing a programme of increased standardisation to ensure new buildings provide consistent and adaptable solutions for schools. President of the Post Primary Teachers Association Chris Abercrombie said the merits or otherwise of open-plan classrooms was a frequent topic for teachers. He said the open-plan rooms could have positives, but required training on how best to use it. "Apart from one or two exceptions, very little thought seems to be given to that professional development. How to use the space effectively, how to teach there, how to often team teach, how to work together in that manner is often missing in that space." Abercrombie said the clear push from the ministry towards open-plan classrooms had died off, but the PPTA would still like to see proper research into their impact.
RNZ News
04-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Shirley Boys High school brings back traditional single-cell rooms
Shirley Boys High Principal Tim Grocott is delighted with the new walls in the formerly open-plan classrooms. Photo: Rachel Graham A second Christchurch school has made the costly move to ditch its near-new open plan classrooms. Shirley Boys High school is spending $800,000 to transform its open plan classrooms, built in 2019, into single-cell rooms. When Shirley Boys High was rebuilt after being damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes the Ministry of Education was in the midst of a push for open plan classrooms, the Innovative Learning Environments. Shirley Boys High was one of a number of Christchurch schools being rebuilt or repaired which joined the movement. Six years after its brand new building opened, Shirley Boys High Principal Tim Grocott said it was obvious the open plan classrooms were not working for students or staff. "The level of distraction was just too high. There was too much movement going on. They can hear what is happening in the class next door - "oh that's sounds interesting over there, I wonder what they are doing". Particularly if something was being played on TV or anything like that. So that level of distraction was a negative factor." Grocott said the shared spaces meant that teachers had to do what they could to limit noise, whereas now they can teach in far more engaging ways. "To be a character, to be at the front and tell a story and have the boys laughing and all of those sorts of things that add to the enjoyment of learning - they couldn't do it. Because that would be distracting other classes around them." In 2024, Shirley Boys High also did a formal inquiry into how students and staff were finding the open-plan rooms, and Grocott said the widespread unhappiness that was found meant they needed to respond. It will cost the school $800k to make the change, and Grocott said the school was in the lucky position of being able to cover that from school reserves put aside by the board over the last 10 years. The first part of the changeover was completed in the last school holidays, and the final stage will be done in the next school holidays. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive and instantaneous. "Hugely positive feedback. The staff on the first day were absolutely thrilled. One of our teachers was hugging the walls in her classroom because she was so thrilled to have walls. But the boys are just much happier," said Grocott. Grocott said his view is that open plan classrooms are a flawed concept that just did not work for his school. A year ago, Rangiora High School finished the process of changing an open plan building, built in 2018, to single-cell classes. Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney said the feedback has been amazing. "The results have been a huge shift in engagement, in attendance, in achievement. It is not what I was expecting. I was expecting a small shift, but its gone through the roof, its made a massive difference in everything in the school." Kearney said while the open plan classrooms didn't work for his school, they may work for others, and his key bit of advice was to review them, and make changes if needed. Minister of Education Erica Stanford said open plan classrooms do work well for some schools, but she said she knows many schools want to switch back to single-cell rooms. She said that decision is up to the schools. "It seems to be a fad that comes and goes, but I think that the evidence is really tending more and more these days towards to making sure there are spaces that are quiet, potentially modular for children to learn. Especially for children with additional learning needs." In a statement, the Ministry of Education's Head of Property, Sam Fowler said the Ministry was aware some schools have converted open-plan classrooms to single-cell classrooms, and that there were schools where such work is currently underway or planned for the future. The Ministry does not have figures on how many schools have or want to convert such spaces. Fowler said schools in New Zealand are self-governing through their boards, meaning they are responsible for decisions regarding their daily operations and teaching and learning programmes. This includes choices about learning space configurations, and whether classrooms are open-plan or single-cell. He said new and redeveloped school buildings were designed for flexibility, enabling schools to tailor spaces to their preferred approach, but the Ministry was also implementing a programme of increased standardisation to ensure new buildings provide consistent and adaptable solutions for schools. The president of the Post Primary Teachers Association, Chris Abercrombie said the merits or otherwise of open plan classrooms was a frequent topic for teachers. He said the open-plan rooms can have positives, but require training on how best to use it. "Apart from one or two exceptions, very little thought seems to be given to that professional development. How to use the space effectively, how to teach there, how to often team teach, how to work together in that manner is often missing in that space." Abercrombie said the clear push from the Ministry towards open plan classrooms has died off, but the PPTA would still like to see proper research into their impact. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
