‘Overuse of state power’: Documents detail Gloriavale school’s fight to stay open

Author: RNZ,
Publish Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2026, 8:39am

By Jean Edwards of RNZ

The closure of Gloriavale Christian School for student safety reasons would be unlawful, and an overuse of state power on a religious and cultural minority, the governing board says.

The High Court will hear arguments about the future of the West Coast Christian community’s private school on Monday, following the Secretary for Education’s decision to cancel its registration over serious concerns that the school is not a physically and emotionally safe place for students.

Documents released to RNZ under the Official Information Act detail the board’s response to secretary Ellen Macgregor-Reid’s moves to shut the school, after a second failed Education Review Office (ERO) audit in as many years.

In a letter to MacGregor-Reid on 14 November last year, the board said it was deeply concerned that the Ministry of Education’s approach was legally flawed and procedurally unfair, and the school’s closure would be a disproportionate response.

“It is an overuse of state power on a religious and cultural minority,” the letter said. “The school has wholeheartedly committed to doing whatever is asked of it to meet the required standard (if it does not already).

“There is no lack of engagement, passion or goodwill to do what is required. The very significant improvements made to the school over the last two years testify to that - and the work is continuing.

“There are significant flaws in the proposed decision to close the school such that it is unlawful.”

The ministry had not shown any evidence that it had considered the effects of closing the school on Gloriavale children, and members were deeply concerned about schooling outside the community, the board said.

“Parents wish to exercise their rights to educate their children consistently with their religion and values,” the board said. “They regard this as a protected right.

“The school enables them to manifest their religion and enjoy the unique culture of their community, as part of their educational experience. This experience would not be available to them at a state school.

“They are entitled to these rights and the ministry must act consistently with them when making a decision.”

The board said the ministry had also failed to consider the practical effects of closing the school, with the nearest primary school, Lake Brunner School, a 40-minute drive and Greymouth High School a one-hour drive from Gloriavale.

“These are unacceptable distances for children to be travelling back and forth each day, and to do so would not be in the best interests of the children. The ministry would need to put on school buses to enable this transport, but this does not negate the impact of 1-2 hours of travel time daily.”

The board stated sending children to boarding school would not be an acceptable option. Photo / NZME

An on-site satellite school would not seem to address the issues raised and boarding schools were not an option, the board said.

“This would take children away from their families, and their religious and cultural life at the community. Concerns as to discrimination and bullying would be exacerbated by fulltime attendance at the school, and boarding is especially unacceptable to parents, whose children should not be taken away from them through the week without their consent and against their wishes.

“Children being dislocated from their parents, community, culture and religion is unacceptable.

“There is also no evidence provided that community children will be physically and emotionally safer at state schools.”

MacGregor-Reid told school leaders in December that she was cancelling its registration, but the 80-student school has remained open, pending judicial review, as a result of a High Court challenge by the board.

She again confirmed the move in September, after considering the findings of a special ERO review, with the ministry applying to lift interim court orders preventing the school’s closure.

The July review found the school had failed to meet one of the eight registration criteria - to be a physically and emotionally safe place for students - after falling short of three criteria in 2025 and six in 2023.

“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,” the ERO report said.

“Information was withheld from ERO in relation to provision, monitoring and reporting requirements for health and safety to and by the premises owners.”

The report noted that the teaching council was investigating two allegations of staff misconduct. The school had provided ERO with a letter of suspension for one staff member.

While there had been improvements overall, ERO said it was not confident that the school’s systems were “sufficiently embedded, consistent and reliable to ensure ongoing compliance with the requirements for registration over time”.

Last November, the school board said information relied on by the ministry failed to distinguish between the school and the wider community.

“While it is not accepted that there remain unaddressed issues in the Gloriavale community, the school and the community are not the same. The relevant question for the ministry is whether the school meets the criteria for registration, not whether the wider community does.”

The board said there had been no instances of any “sexualised misbehaviour” at the school and systems were in place to mitigate risk, including a comprehensive child protection policy.

Teachers were trained to recognise, and respond to any concerns or disclosures of abuse.

“The school is a safe, student-centred, externally assured learning environment, where historical patterns of harm are neither present nor possible.”

Gloriavale Christian School. Photo / RNZ, Jean Edwards

The ministry was relying on irrelevant evidence, a flawed process, and had failed to take relevant considerations into account, such as the children’s best interests, said the board, which claimed “mixed and evolving” ministry concerns had “created uncertainty about what the actual concerns for physical and emotional safety are, suggesting an underlying agenda”.

“We strongly affirm that Gloriavale Christian School meets the statutory requirements for registration under the Education and Training Act 2020.”

RNZ initially sought documents relating to the ministry’s decision in December 2025, with a response provided in May.

The ministry letters to Gloriavale detailed concerns that the school existed to indoctrinate children, maintain a caste system and grow a workforce, rather than for teaching and learning.

They also outlined concerns over most teenagers being prevented from progressing beyond Year 11, a lack of support for young victims and abusers, and students not being able to use school toilets without fear.

The ministry’s points were rejected by the board.

In October, the ministry released a further 11 documents, after re-assessing its response to RNZ’s request, consisting of letters and supporting information received from the school board between 3 October and 21 December 2025.

“Unfortunately, we have identified that, due to an administrative error while processing your request, some communications that the ministry received from Gloriavale Christian School were omitted when preparing the response. As a result, we have identified a further 11 documents in scope of your request.

“I can confirm that the information contained in these documents was considered in the decision made by the Secretary for Education in December 2025 and apologise for the oversight in our earlier response to your request.”

Gloriavale was contacted for comment.