What principals want after Abbey Caves coroner ruling

Help with monitoring weather conditions and more guidance on calling off activities are needed, the Principals' Federation head says.

This week a coroner called on schools around the country to take a more cautious approach to the risks of outdoor trips following the death of a Whangārei boy in a caving tragedy.

Karnin "Tino" Petera, 15, died in 2023 during a Whangārei Boys' High outdoor education trip to Abbey Caves, when he was trapped in a flash flood.

Coroner Alexander Ho said organisers had an "overly optimistic" tolerance for risk. That was compounded by misinterpretation of the MetService weather forecast, along with uncertainty around who had authority to cancel the trip, and what the criteria for cancelling were.

Principals' Federation president Jason Miles said the coroner's recommendations were very clear and the biggest focus for leaders and teachers embarking on outdoor education trips needed to be identifying risks.

If students were facing very challenging conditions that could be affected by weather, it was vital that teachers and instructors had the experience and knowledge how to assess and mitigate the risk factors.

"We definitely agree with the coroner's recommendations."

Miles who has been a principal for 30 years said he had seen a huge shift in risk management for outdoor education.

Schools relied on the expertise of organisations such as Education Outdoors New Zealand and the Ministry of Education.

Help with monitoring weather conditions such as wind speeds, rainfall thresholds and river flow rates was needed and there also needed to be clearer guidelines on who had the authority to cancel activities.

"Schools want further information and they want to know they're providing the very safest experiences for our children so professional development that involves really specific guidance on where to get that information is so important."

That guidance should come from both Education Outdoors NZ and the ministry, Miles believed.

He expressed his sympathy for the Petera whānau as well as his friends and the school community.

He said the death of the student had a lasting impact on a community and the release of the coroner's report would "test those mending hearts".