Why is the Gloriavale School allowed to stay open? Court ruling explained.
Opinion piece: Liz Gregory.
(Thoughts, opinions and views expressed here belong to Liz Gregory and may or may not represent the views of the Gloriavale Leavers’ Support Trust, former or current members of Gloriavale.).
Why has a court ordered the Gloriavale School to remain open?
Great question! I’m being asked this by a lot of people – leavers, current members, and the public. Hopefully this quick lesson in NZ law might assist. I promise to use geek-free explanations! (Read court judgement here if you’re keen).
Background
Gloriavale school was due to have its licenced cancelled on Friday 23rd January 2026. On the 19th January they requested the Secretary of Education delay the date of the cancellation. She responded saying she did not agree to voluntarily delaying her decision.
On the day before the cancellation Gloriavale’s School Board went to the High Court and applied for an “interim” order to be put in place so they could prepare for an “interim order” through the judicial review process.
Yes you read that right. They asked for an “interim interim” order.
The judge allowed them the interim interim order.
The judge’s reasoning for allowing it was because he was not satisfied that the Ministry of Education had adequate educational provision in place for the children for Term One and that not enough informatiomn had been submitted to show there was urgency around safety issues. The MOE stated they did not have time at such short notice to produce the evidence necessary to show that the school was not a “physically and emotionally” place for the children, and to share the full details of the new proposed schooling proposal. They did however admit that the new provision would be staged and final details would not be available until the end of February.
The judge then wrote,
“I consider it essential that the Ministry has every opportunity to continue making arrangements to support the students’ transition to a new educational environment. I strongly urge it to redouble its efforts in doing so, in parallel with the current proceeding.”
In other words, hurry up with the plans for alternative educational provision and get them finalised!
The judge then agreed to given an interim interim order delaying the cancellation coming into effect from Thursday 29th January 2026, until the MOE had time to provide evidence. That’s today.
So what is a judicial review and why does Gloriavale want one?
Gloriavale was not happy that the Ministry of Education (MOE) ordered the cancellation of their school registration. They are wanting to challenge the lawfulness and validity of the decision.
Any decision that gets made by a Government Department is apparently allowed to be challenged by a judicial review. The average New Zealander might not be aware of how they work. So here goes…
If you are in individual or an organisation of any kind, and you can show you have a valid reason to to be interested in a particular decision you can request a judicial review. A judicial review is limited. It can only assess whether the PROCESS the Government Department followed was lawful. The court CAN’T OVERTURN the decision. The court can tell the Government Department to go back and do their jobs properly, and then remake the decision. And they can allow the decision to be put on hold until such time as the Government can fix up any possible errors.
So just to be clear, the court order dated 22nd January WAS NOT the judicial review. It was an interim order for a few days to give Gloriavale time to prepare their application for the judicial review.
And so we come back to today’s date 29th January 2026.
This is the date where Gloriavale gets to speak to their judicial review application. They will try to put forward some evidence showing the Government’s decision-making process was flawed. The information will need to meet a threshold before the judge decides to grant an interim order keeping the school open, until such time as they get to hear the SUBSTANTIVE HEARING. (That’s where the real nitty gritty stuff comes out. Let’s call that part the court fight).
So anything the judge decides today, is not the final decision either. It’s just a little step along the way.
What will Gloriavale be hoping for?
Gloriavale will want to be given an interim order to keep the school open.
What will the judge want to see today?
Well hopefully he will want to see a really, really good reason why he should go against the MOE’s carefully considered position on closing the school, and allow the school to remain open while they wait for the big court fight.
Core factors the court will consider:
- Is there a serious question to be tried? Does it appear that the decision might have been illegal, have procedural faults or is unreasonable. This is a reasonably low threshold. So success at this level should not be an indicator of success later on. They just need to show it raises genuine legal issues.
- Where does the balance of convenience lie? This means the judge will want to consider what harm occurs if the school closes now or later. They will want to look at educational disruption, impact on children and families, staffing consequences etc.
- Preservation of the status quo: Most courts like to maintain the existing position unless there is a really good reason not to.
- Adequacy of Damages: This means can the harm that might be created by the decision to close the school be adequately remedied later?
- Public Interest: The judge may consider the welfare and best interests of children, community impact etc. Where children or vulnerable groups are involved, public interest carries real weight.
- Conduct and Timing: Did the applicant (Gloriavale) act promptly, will it create urgency, has either party acted unreasonably.
So what will the judge be deciding?
At the moment, he just needs to make ONE decision. Will he allow the Gloriavale School to remain open, while they wait for the big court fight? (It’s called giving relief.)
If he says No, then Gloriavale will have to allow the MOE to cancel the registration. And they will have to wait a long time for the big court fight to see if they will ever be allowed to open again.
If he says Yes, then the Gloriavale School will be allowed to stay open until the big court fight.
What chances are there that this issue will get to a full substantive hearing?
In my opinion it’s highly likely. Gloriavale has deep pockets. Inside information says they have spent over $5 million in court fees in the past few years – so what’s another hundred thousand or two? They know that the decision to close the school fundamentally alters one of the building blocks of the their community. Isolation, in-house teaching, and a fear of the outside world that has been instilled in the children and parents is, after all, one of the main reasons they have been successful in keeping the community spirit alive.
How long will it take for the big court fight?
If Gloriavale is allowed to keep their school open, this process might go on for many many months, or longer.
So how does one party draw out legal proceedings ad infinitum?
Well I’ve been learning a lot since following the Gloriavale court dramas. Often the public don’t realise that before a court case goes to trial, there has been a LOT of preparation, and a lot of busy lawyers and judges in the background.
There are things called – BIG WORD ALERT – “interlocutory judgments” The word interlocutory means “between steps”. So all the in between stuff can be arguments about what evidence is allowed and how the case will proceed. There are a bunch of tricks that can be used like: Strike-out applications, Summary dismissal, Interim injunctions, Interim stays of a decision, Discovery and disclosure, Confidentiality orders, Timetabling / case management, Security for costs, Standing challenges etc.
Yeah – so you want to know why it takes half a million to bring something to trial?! That’s why!
(Side note: Can I state here, that there are people in Gloriavale who are NOT happy that the money their labour creates is going to cover court costs to defend themselves from problems of their own making?? Just saying.)
And so, we wait and see. Will the judge think that Gloriavale has a serious case that needs to go to court, and will he allow the school to stay open in the interim? …. Or will he side with the MOE and say the school should shut in the meantime?
Your guess is as good as mine… but I don’t think we will have to wait long for the judgment. Sometimes they are made the same day…
Click here if you want to read the Interim Interim injunction judgment.