Enrolment – Botany Downs Primary School

Botany Downs welcomes enrolments at all levels to students living within our school zone. Children are entitled to start school the day they have their fifth birthday. Our enrolment pack includes a wide range of information on all aspects of the school and community, and is available from the school office. Parents are required to report to the school office to complete the enrolment before their child’s first day.

See below for Out-of-Zone Applications…

Bright Sparks:

For five year olds beginning school, Joanne Hughson, our Deputy Principal, takes a Bright Sparks parents and caregivers session. We encourage all new families, and families of current siblings who attend BDS to attend these sessions.

Information about our school and learning programmes will be shared, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions and share information about your child. New students who have enroled at the school are invited to attend two school visits on the following two Wednesday mornings from 9.00 to 10.30am. Please contact our school office for more information, and to book for the next available Bright Sparks session: office@botanydowns.school.nz

How to enrol:

The Education Act gives a guarantee of enrolment to students who live in the home zone specified in the school’s enrolment scheme (see below for more information regarding our home zone). The Board needs to be sure that an in-zone address is genuine, because it is required to manage the enrolment scheme for the benefit of local students. The address given at the time of application for enrolment must be the student’s usual place of residence when the school is open for instruction. This means that if you currently live at an in-zone address but move to an out-of-zone address before your child’s first day of attendance at the school, your child will not be entitled to enrol at Botany Downs School. The Ministry of Education has advised that parents should also be warned of the possible consequences of deliberately attempting to gain unfair priority in enrolment by knowingly giving a false address or making an in-zone living arrangement which they intend to be only temporary eg:

Renting accommodation in-zone on a short-term basis;
Arranging temporary board in-zone with a relative or family friend;
Using the in-zone address of a relative or friend as an “address of convenience”, with no intention to live there on an ongoing basis.

** If the school learns that a student is no longer living at the in-zone address given at the time of application for enrolment and has reasonable grounds to believe that a temporary in-zone residence has been used for the purpose of unfairly gaining priority in enrolment at the school, then the Board may review the enrolment. Unless the parents can give a satisfactory explanation within 10 days, the Board may annul the enrolment.

Home Zone

All students who live within the home zone described below and/or shown on the attached map shall be entitled to enrol at the school.

From the intersection of Whitford Road and Edgar Pearce Place, west along Edgar Pearce Place, Andrew Road including the side roads – Salas Place and Eaglen Place to the intersection of Andrew Road and Botany Road. Along both sides of Botany Road to the intersection of Lexington Drive.

West along Lexington Drive to the intersection of Bradbury including side roads of Voltaire Court, St Simon Place and Citation Way. South along Gosford Drive, including all side streets, to the intersection of Bradbury Road.

From this intersection, a straight line is drawn to the intersection of Cascades Road and Aviemore Drive, but excludes Jay Court, Bradbury Road and Aviemore Drive. The zone boarders the Golf Course on three sides, Cascades Road, Botany Road and west along the south boundary of the Golf Course to the Pakuranga Creek estuary, but excludes the Golf Course itself.

It then follows the estuary on the eastside of Burswood Estate until it reaches Ti-Rakau Drive at the intersection of Greenmount Drive. East along Ti-Rakau Drive to Huntington Drive, this includes both sides of Ti-Rakau Drive and Amera Place.

South along Huntington Drive and all side roads, Guys Road including Oneroa Road but not Lurgen Drive to Haven Drive (not including the side road of Matarangi Road) and thence to Te-Irirangi Drive. North along both sides of Te-Irirangi Drive to the intersection of Ti-Rakau Drive.

East along both sides of Ti-Rakau Drive to the intersection of Chapel Road, North along the west side of Chapel Road until it meets Whitford Road. The zone then continues north along the west side of Whitford Road until the intersection of Edgar Pearce Place.

Proof of residence within the home zone is required.

Zone Map:

Please contact the school office if you are unsure whether you are living within our home zone.

Source: Education Counts (Botany Downs School)

** Please note: if students are in-zone when they enrol but move out-of-zone before their first day of school, they would be considered an out-of-zone student and will not be eligible to attend BDS.

Out-of-Zone Enrolments

Each year the board will determine the number of places which are likely to be available in the following year for the enrolment of students who live outside the home zone. The board will publish this information by notice in a daily or community newspaper circulated in the area served by the school. The notice will indicate how applications are to be made & will specify a date by which all applications must be received.

Application procedure:

Parents complete an out-of-zone enrolment application:

Term 4 2024 Out-of-Zone Application Form – click link

The exact number of places available will depend on the number of applications received from students who live within the school’s home zone.

If the number of out-of-zone applications exceeds the number of places available, students will be selected by ballot. If required the ballot will be held in the week beginning 5 August 2024. Parents will be informed of the outcome of the ballot within three school days of the ballot being held.

2024 Term Four Application Closing Date:

Student starting school in Term 4	Application Closing Date
Term 4	31 July 2024

Ballot Procedure

On the ballot date, the ballot is drawn under the supervision of a Justice of the Peace, a practising lawyer, a sworn member of the Police or a local Government returning officer.

The names are pulled out of the ballot and a waiting list is created if there are more names in the ballot than spaces available. The waiting list expires when the next ballot is held.

Successful families are advised by email and asked to confirm acceptance (within 14 days) in writing of the place offered. Upon acceptance they will be asked to complete the Botany Downs School enrolment form and submit supporting documents.

Unsuccessful families are advised by email and placed on a waiting list in the number they are drawn from the ballot.

If successful families decline the space, or do not respond within 14 days, the place is offered to the first/next family on the waiting list.

Applications for enrolment will be processed in the following priority:

First priority must be given to students who have been accepted for enrolment in a special programme run by the school & approved by the Secretary of Education. Our school has no such programme.
Second priority must be given to applicants who are siblings of current students.
Third priority must be given to applicants who are siblings of former students
Fourth priority must be given to any applicant who is a child of a former student of the school.
Fifth priority must be given to any applicant who is either a child of an employee of the school or a child of a member of the board of the school.
Sixth priority must be given to all other applicants.

If there are more applicants in the second, third, fourth or fifth priority groups than there are places available, selection within the priority group will be by ballot conducted in accordance with instructions issued by the Secretary for Education under Section 11G(1) of the Education Act 1989. Parents will be informed of the date of any ballot by notice in a daily or community newspaper circulation in the area served by the school.

The Board reserves the right to decide if there are spaces available and if so, how many spaces are available at any particular year level. This information will be advertised in the school newsletter and local newspaper approximately one month in advance of the ballot.