Photo: 123RF
Intermediate schools say it should be easier to keep pupils on past year 8, and grow a year 9 and 10 roll. The value of intermediate and middle schooling has been debated in the past, with a 2018 report concluding that a middle school - or junior college - would be far more beneficial to a child's development, than the more common two year intermediate experience.
However, the costs of expanding an intermediate school, or building a new junior college that would include years 7 to 10, far outweigh the cheaper option which is turning a contributing school - which ends at year 6 - into a full primary. The New Zealand Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools - better known as AIMS - says middle schooling is exceptionally important, with children in formative pre-teen and early teen years, but the current two-year model doesn't give teachers or the children enough time to get the best out of the experience.
Cambridge Middle School principal Daryl Gibbs who is also the president of the Intermediate and Middle Schools association discusses with Kathryn Ryan.
