Ministry seeks court order to close Gloriavale school as ERO again finds it unsafe
Gloriavale leaders withheld information from the Education Review Office (ERO) during a recent review, which again found the school was physically and emotionally unsafe for students.
The latest failed review prompted the Ministry of Education to file an application with the court on Thursday to close the school. The community has already indicated it will challenge the move.
Barrister Brian Henry, who has fought for Gloriavale leavers to be deemed employees, told RNZ the ERO report revealed nothing new and the school should have been shut down decades ago.
“Finally someone’s done it and I applaud them for that,” he told RNZ. However, Henry said it was “appalling” it had taken two attempts to cancel the registration.
Former Gloriavale Christian School student Lilia Tarawa told RNZ she witnessed abuse at the school and it was “horrific” it wasn’t shut down long ago.
The Ministry previously decided to cancel Gloriavale Christian School’s registration as a private school after a string of failed audits and serious concerns about student safety.
The school remained open after an interim order was granted by the High Court pending Gloriavale’s application for a judicial review of the Ministry’s decision, to be heard next month.
In April, the Secretary for Education requested that ERO undertake another review, and its findings were released on Thursday.
The review found the school, which has 80 students, was meeting seven of the eight criteria for registration as a private school. The 2025 review failed the school on three of those.
The report says the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand is investigating two allegations of staff misconduct and that one staff member had been suspended.
It was still not meeting the requirement for the school to be a physically and emotionally safe place for students.
ERO’s report says the school had purchased a policy and procedural framework to guide its operation.
However, key safeguarding systems were not consistently aligned or supported by complete and transparent information-sharing.
“Inconsistencies between the school and community child protection policies limit assurance that governance oversight is effective and that the school is consistently a physically and emotionally safe place for students.”
Staffing decisions continued to be made without sufficient information at governance level.
“Information was withheld from ERO in relation to provision, monitoring and reporting requirements for health and safety to and by the premises owners.”
ERO was not confident that “systems are operating effectively to identify, manage, and monitor risk over time, or that reasonable steps have been taken”.
It said improvements were evident in relation to learning, premises, attendance, and aspects of day-to-day teaching and supervision.
The school relied heavily on external consultants for its curriculum and leadership support, and there was insufficient evidence of “internal capability building for self-sustaining improvement”.
“The provision of high-quality curriculum, teaching and learning at the school remains inconsistent.”
The school met criteria including having suitable premises, staffing, equipment, curriculum and managers assessed as fit and proper.
ERO recommended the board develop a coherent, school-wide curriculum plan and keep parents well informed. It also recommended improved safeguarding, compliance, and governance assurance and a board-approved school improvement plan.
The ministry’s education services deputy secretary Geoff Short said the Secretary for Education had again decided to cancel the school’s registration as a private school after considering the findings of the latest ERO review.
“The ministry will work with the school community to determine the most practical timing for the school’s closure, with students’ best interests guiding those discussions.”
The ministry had applied to the court to lift the interim orders that allowed the school to remain open.
The Gloriavale School Board previously said in a statement to The Press it was “deeply disappointed” by the ministry’s decision.
“We believe this decision is unjust and does not reflect the significant efforts we have made to address concerns raised.
“The position taken by the ministry is not accepted and will be challenged.”