Battle to keep Salisbury School open

Parents and supporters of Salisbury special education girls school are not ruling out legal action if the Minister of Education insists she will close the school. The Nelson school is at the centre of a battle between its supporters and the Ministry of Education, with accusations the Ministry has deliberately starved it of students. In 2012, the High Court ruled that a previous Government decision to close the school was unlawful and it was kept open. However since that time the government changed the enrollment system for special residential schools, meaning potential students can't enroll directly, and have to be referred by the Ministry's Intensive Wraparound Service. Phil Treweek is the father of a 15 year old girl - Ellen - who has been at Salisbury for two weeks.It took five applications over the last two years to finally get her into the school and the family is gutted to think it will close. He says the enrolment model is ridiculous - requiring a girl to have severe behavioural issues as well as intellectual disabilities to get into the school and because Ellen was well behaved at school, they could not get her into the school until her behaviour deteriorated.