Closure of Stephen's School and Queen Victoria School The reasons for closure of the two schools go back many decades. The Church and the boards responsible for the schools have always struggled financially to keep the schools open, relying for long periods throughout their histories on Government bursaries and grants, which have not been and are not guaranteed, and on fundraising by the schools' communities. In the 1950's, in the 1960's and again in the 1970's the Church seriously considered closing one or both schools, or relocating them closer to areas of high Maori populations. Part of the reason for the decline in the post World War II period was that there were more and more secondary schools being built in country areas and Maori students could attend schools as day pupils. Another reason was increased Maori migration to the cities where secondary schooling was readily available. And of course the cost of sending students to boarding schools has been steadily increasing for decades. In the 1970's the schools were again facing insolvency and were saved by the decision of the Government of the day to allow private schools to apply to be "integrated". Both Queen Victoria and St Stephen's Schools were brought into that system in the 1970's. This meant that the Government took over and fully operated and paid for the two schools, the Board owned and operated the hostels, and the Board was required to provide and maintain both the school and hostel buildings. For a short while this provided some impetus for school rolls to increase to the highest levels in their histories. From the mid to late 1980's however school rolls started to fall and the effect of that decline started to bite from about 1990 onwards. There were many reasons for that. At that time the economy was being totally restructured and primary and secondary industry laid off large numbers of workers. Maori families were severely affected and numbers at the two boarding schools dropped as families could no longer afford to pay boarding fees. At the same time Te Reo Maori started to be taught at increasing numbers of state schools and parents no longer had to send their sons and daughters to Maori boarding schools to learn Te Reo Maori and Tikanga Maori. From 1982 also children were able to be taught Te Reo Maori and to live aspects of Tikanga Maori at Te Kohanga Reo and at Kura Kaupapa Maori. As a result of those economic constraints, and of the increased competition, rolls at Queen Victoria and St Stephen's Schools fell to unsupportable lows. From 1995 onwards the Ministry of Education worked with all Maori boarding schools to try to reverse the decline, providing funding and advice. After five years of that programme the rolls and educational performance did not improve. Throughout the period of the decline the Trust Board allocated all of its available funding to prop up the loss-making hostels to give the schools time and space to turn themselves around. This included funding that should have been spent on repairs and maintenance of the school properties and other Board properties, which started to deteriorate without adequate maintenance. The Board also went into debt to support the hostels as the schools and Ministry of Education tried to reverse the decline. By 2000 the Board could no longer bear the losses. The decline in the schools was not only related to student numbers but also to student achievement. This has been recorded in ERO reports over the period, and closure was recommended and supported by the Minister for Education and the Ministry of Education, who were responsible for the operation of the schools (as opposed to the hostels which were operated by the Trust Board). The integration agreements with the Minister of Education were therefore terminated by mutual agreement between the Trust Board and the Minister, and the schools were closed. St Stephen's School closed at the end of 2000, and Queen Victoria School at the end of 2001. See also: (PDF) - QVS Closure Consultation (3.8meg) - Board welcomes interest from St Stephens School Alumni (34kb) - St Stephen's School ERO report - Queen Victoria School ERO report