A Former Education Minister says a Ministry botch-up has forced a Wellington school to shut

Wellington Girls College has closed this week, after discovering a main block is quake-prone.

The Ministry denies the principal's claim the Government knew and didn't tell her.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he's sorry the school's had to go through this.

He says as Minister he gave the school the money for the building project, but he believes the Ministry badly handled the relationship with the school and failed to share information -- which isn't good enough.