Large areas of Burwood, including the Horseshoe Lake area, suffered severe damage in the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, and were abandoned under government policy that placed them in a residential red zone. Burwood contained two schools—Burwood Primary School and Windsor School—and these were amalgamated post-earthquake in 2014 in the Fifth National Government's Christchurch school restructuring to form Waitakiri Primary School.