14 Feb 2014

Charter school brushes off boycott

8:10 am on 14 February 2014

A Northland charter school says it will get by without the help of state schools if that's the way it has to be.

Te Kura Hourua o Whangarei, a Maori boys secondary school, opens next week.

It was expecting students to attend Whangarei Boys High, a state secondary school, for specialist subjects like art, but teachers there have vetoed the move.

The PPTA says charter schools are a political experiment which undermine the public education system and should stand or fall on their merits.

Kura spokesperson Raewyn Tipene said only two students are affected by the boycott and the school has other partners which are happy to help, including Northland Polytechnic.