Westbridge school closure confirmed despite families’ pleas to keep it open
An Auckland residential school for children with complex needs will close in January despite pleas from families who credited it with transforming their children’s lives.
Westbridge Residential School in Massey will close on January 27, 2027, a formal closure notice signed by Education Minister Erica Stanford on November 3 confirmed.
The decision follows a critical Education Review Office (ERO) report that recorded more than 30 assaults in two terms and found students were not consistently receiving the support expected of a school providing round-the-clock care.
The school’s commissioner said the decision had brought a “great deal of sadness” and warned the need for specialist support for young people with complex needs would remain.
The decision ends months of uncertainty for the school, which is one of only three such residential schools in the country.
Stanford announced her initial decision to close Westbridge in September, with the school’s commissioner given 28 days to provide further information, submissions or arguments before a final decision.
At the time, Stanford said she had considered advice from the Ministry of Education, ERO and the Secretary for Education.
“There have been some very, very serious concerns,” she said, pointing to assaults on students and incidents where police had been called.
She said the weight of evidence had led the Secretary for Education to recommend closure.
The ERO report recorded 26 incidents of students assaulting staff and six of students assaulting other students across two terms. Twenty incidents of property damage were also recorded.
It found transitions back into mainstream schools were often ineffective, and there was too much variation in the quality of teaching.
The school had already faced years of scrutiny, with ERO reports in 2023 and 2024 identifying a “significant number of concerns”, according to a briefing to Stanford.
A limited statutory manager was appointed in March 2025. Three months later, commissioner Dr Gabrielle Wall replaced the board of trustees.
Wall told the Herald today that confirmation of the closure had brought a “great deal of sadness”, with staff also facing uncertainty about their futures.
“Although we’ve known closure was a possibility for some time, having the final decision confirmed is understandably difficult for the school community.”
Wall said the focus was now on managing the closure carefully and respectfully, with the wellbeing of students, families and staff at the centre.
Every current student would have an individually planned transition into their next education setting, she said.
Westbridge already undertook transition planning as part of each student’s enrolment, and was working with whānau, the ministry and other agencies to ensure appropriate arrangements and support were in place.
Wall had previously argued against closure and, speaking in September, questioned how young people with complex needs who might otherwise have attended Westbridge would be supported.
She said then that the school’s immediate priority was its current students, who would receive individual transition planning if it closed.
Her concerns about future provision remained after the final decision.
“The decision to close Westbridge doesn’t remove the need for specialist support for young people with these levels of complexity. That remains an important question for the wider education system.”
Reflecting on the school’s legacy, Wall acknowledged experiences had varied.
“It’s important to acknowledge the concerns raised by some former students and families, alongside the commitment of staff and the positive experiences and progress of other students.”
For the current school community, she said, the closure was a “significant loss”.
“There are strong relationships here, and people who care deeply about the young people they work with.”
Families had also urged the Government to keep Westbridge open during consultation.
Auckland mother Alannah Nixon said her son attended in 2023 and emerged “a completely different child”.
She believed he might never have successfully returned to mainstream education without Westbridge.
An Invercargill mother described sending her 12-year-old more than 1600km to Auckland as one of the hardest decisions she had made, but said his 18 months at the school changed the trajectory of his life.
A Rotorua grandmother caring for four children said Westbridge helped when she was “at the end of her rope”, giving her grandson and the wider family skills to better manage his needs.
Rachel Maher is the education correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. She also covers other topics such as Auckland issues, crime and local government. She started at the Herald as a breaking news journalist in 2022, before joining the Auckland team this year.
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