Salisbury School

Salisbury: a Special School for nearly 100 years

Note - the language of the day has been used throughout this story, which shows the changing attitudes to difference and disability over a century.

For close to 100 years, Richmond's Salisbury School has catered to the needs of girls and young women with learning disabilities and social, emotional or behavioural problems. But, in 2012, the Government announced plans to close the only residential, single sex facility for girls with intellectual impairment in New Zealand.¹

The school's history on the Salisbury Road site began in 1904, when a homestead belonging to the McRae family was sold to the Crown and used as a boys' home for several years.²

The 'Home for Defective Children' at Richmond was the subject of a letter to the editor of the Otago Witness.  The writer said it was a vast improvement on the former practice of placing these children in mental asylums, but: "With providing a home and food the Government seems to consider it has fulfilled its obligations; but that is surely not so.  Some of the children are cripples, some blind, some epileptic, some consumptive, and no less than 16 cannot dress or feed themselves."³

In the early 20^th century, there was a lot of movement of children between industrial schools, orphanages and mental hospitals.⁴ In 1925 industrial schools were replaced by child welfare institutions, which aimed to be educational rather than penal.⁵

How to deal with 'mental defectives', or the 'feeble minded', as they were also called, was discussed in 1911, with a ‘sad case':  "...in the South Island three feeble-minded sisters...who...had borne between them no less than ten illegitimate children", with fathers unknown, for whose upkeep the local authority was paying £100/year.  It highlighted the need for a State Home for vulnerable females.⁶

The Richmond 'Special School for Girls of Feeble Mind' was opened in October 1916.⁷ The girls learnt basic English and maths, housework, laundry, sewing, knitting and gardening. Some very difficult girls, and handicapped girls were enrolled, as were girls from abusive homes.⁸

During the 1930s life was centred around the school, with the girls going to ‘something in Richmond' annually and summer picnics to Brightwater or Wakefield.⁹ It was not until the 1960s, that the school began to build relationships with the community¹⁰ and by the 1990s, Salisbury girls were involved in many activities in Nelson.¹¹

In the 1940s, the school inspector suggested that music and nature radio broadcasts, as well as silent reading, would improve the education of the girls. In 1947, the principal, Miss Katherine McRae introduced an era of treating the girls as individuals.  By 1950, the inspector noted the improvement and the fact that ‘the importance of all round development is realised by the staff.'¹²

By 1951, the Richmond Special School had a roll of about 65 and a residential teaching staff of 19, only three of whom were trained teachers.  The educational focus was becoming more apparent but staff shortages were an on-going problem.¹³

Formidable principal, Miss Nora Hurley arrived at the school in 1963. By the time she left in 1979, the school had been practically rebuilt. Around this time there was also a growing awareness of the growing relationship between deprived backgrounds and learning difficulties.¹⁴

From the middle of the 20^th Century, as Māori increasingly moved into cities and became alienated from traditional support bases, the chances of Māori girls becoming state wards increased substantially. In 1967, 19 out of 25 admissions to Salisbury were state wards and 14 of these girls were Māori. The school's 1965 Annual Report commented that the Māori girls ‘lack stimulation in their backgrounds' which, ‘account for their retardation in very many cases.'¹⁵

Maria Robinson (nee Hippolite) was at the school for almost four decades and principal from 1987 to 1999. Under her watch, a ‘people first' philosophy (Te Whānau o Salisbury) flourished and Kaupapa Māori became an increasing focus.¹⁶

The Labour Government's 1989 Education Amendment Act (Tomorrow's Schools) introduced a mainstreaming philosophy to special education and Salisbury School was threatened with closure. Lockwood Smith, then National Party education spokesman, criticised the Labour Government for its ideological stance and promised the school would stay open if National won the next general election, which it did.¹⁷

By the 2000s, girls spent a maximum of two years at the school and most returned to high schools in their regions. All of the students had learning disabilities, whether they were the result of identifiable syndromes or less specific social, emotional or behavioural problems.¹⁸

Since the early 1990s, special education units in schools and residential facilities for special needs students have been closed by successive governments. "Principals, parents and teachers were, on the whole, less favourably disposed towards mainstreaming...This opinion hardened as the savings from the closures were not seen to be redirected into special education," wrote Mary Ellen O'Connor in Salisbury School: A Lesson in Special Education.¹⁹

In 2012 the National Government proposed that several residential schools, including Salisbury, be replaced with a wrap-around model integrating students into their communities.²⁰ Salisbury School fought the closure saying a co-educational facility put girls with intellectual disabilities at high risk of abuse.²¹

On 31 October 2012, Education Minister Hekia Parata announced that Salisbury School would close at the end of 2012,²² however after judicial review this decision was reversed²³ and the school seemed to remain open.²⁴  The threat of closure remained, however. until 2019, when the incoming Labour Government honoured a pre-election promise to keep the school open and announced an $8 million Government cash injection to rebuild, plus a new pathway to enrolment.  However, by 2021 the school had a current roll of just three students in 2021.²⁵ The commitment to remain open and grow remained.

In May 2024, a new joint learning hub offering a cluster of education support services for students with behavioural issues, hearing and vision impairments opened in relocatable classrooms in the grounds of Salisbury School. ²⁶

In June 2024, the next government announced funding for a new base for Nelson’s Maitai School, to join the other special education services on the grounds at Salisbury School, to be completed by mid 2026. Maitai School is the only day school in the region for children with complex and high needs. Included in this announcement was a recommitment to refurbishing Salisbury School. By the time of the announcement the Sailsbury School roll had grown again, and the school was almost at capacity.  ²⁷

2012 (updated 2024)

See also the story: Safe Haven - Salisbury School [PDF] by Sarah Price (2013), Nelson College for Girls

Story by: Joy Stephens