Almost 300 primary school pupils from Christchurch are enrolled in Marlborough and Kaikoura school as parents try to give their children a sense of normality after the earthquake last week.
Marlborough Principals Association treasurer and Whitney St School principal Alan Straker said 220 pupils from Christchurch were spread across 15 schools in the wider Blenheim area, with an average of 12 in each school.
Schools were also expecting more pupils to enrol, he said.
The association committee will meet tomorrow to discuss any extra resources the schools need with the influx because some pupils would have special needs or teacher aid support, he said.
Association president and Kaikoura Primary School principal Bruce Pagan said 65 pupils from Christchurch were enrolled at the six schools in the Kaikoura area.
Picton School reported 11 new pupils while Havelock School had three and was expecting three more next week. Even small schools such as Waitaria, in the Marlborough Sounds, have extra pupils enrolled. It has 10.
Havelock School principal Ernie Buutveld said pupils just needed some mates to play with.
"They have been made pretty welcome and kids break down barriers really quickly."
Mr Pagan said pupils were fitting in well in their new classrooms with little disruption to learning.
Kaikoura Primary has hired more teachers, and one teacher had arrived from Freeville School, near New Brighton in Christchurch, he said.
Some schools were reasonably full, but principals would find space if more children wanted to enrol, he said.
The children were happy to talk about their earthquake experiences while it was the parents who needed reassurance, he said.
The Education Ministry has told schools to make life as normal as possible for the children and would sort out any extra costs later, he said.
"There's a huge amount of good faith."
Blenheim early childhood centres are also caring for younger evacuees from the earthquake, including three children enrolled during the past few days.
Treasurer Abe Moore said the centres on John St, Hospital Rd and Aerodrome Rd would not charge fees for Christchurch families.
Schools in Christchurch say they want to get classes back on track, but need to wait on engineer reports and recovery meetings with the ministry.
Education Minister Anne Tolley said 43 Christchurch schools had asked to re-open as soon as possible.
All required a structural engineer's report so she could not give timetables for re-opening.
Where possible schools would be kept together.
Already 3759 pupils had were enrolled in other schools around New Zealand, although many were likely to be temporary shifts.
- The Marlborough Express
SIMON WONG
Whitney Street School principal Alan Straker amongst a whirlwind of children
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