School wants more classrooms

John Stalker
John Stalker
Remarkables Primary School wants extra classrooms built on site by the end of 2012 to cope with enrolment growth, only two years after the $17.3 million facility opened.

The Ministry of Education had indicated to the school's board of trustees "we have a positive case to put forward", deputy chairman John Stalker said.

Ministry property adviser Brian Teague attended the latest monthly meeting of the board to discuss the issue of extra classrooms for roll growth, Mr Stalker said.

Arrowtown School was indicated as an example. Extra classrooms had been provided there to cope with roll growth.

"Currently we have a roll of 418 students, and as we progress through this year we will be getting to our school's limit of 460 students for our classrooms," Mr Stalker said.

"So ... we've spoken to the ministry and advised them of the situation, and they have come back very proactively, and over the next couple of months we will work closely with the property adviser, advising as our enrolment role changes or grows.

"And we're waiting to see what happens, particularly at the start of next term when our enrolment zone changes, and at that point we'll then make an application to the ministry for additional classrooms to be built on our site.

"The property adviser is confident with where we're going and believes it should not be too much of an issue, but at the moment we're just waiting until April and the start of the next term, to see exactly what happens as our enrolment zone decreases."

The ministry called on the board last year to propose a reduced zone because of concerns regarding enrolment growth.

The ministry approved the plan submitted by trustees, with feedback from the community, in late November.

From April 23, the new zone will include all properties from the Shotover River to the west along the south side only of the Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway to Kawarau Rd, and all roads to the south of those roads.

It will also include McBride St and Yewlett Cres and all roads leading off those roads to the south of Frankton Rd, as well as Remarkables Park, Kelvin Heights, Jack's Point and Lakeside Estate south to Wye Creek and all areas in between.

Present pupils in or out of the new zone will continue to attend the school and any younger siblings will be eligible to enrol, as well.

The ministry said in August it was aware another primary school was needed, but in the meantime, the network of other Wakatipu schools had a surplus capacity of about 120 places.

Asked what the trustees wanted in an ideal world, Mr Stalker said they would like to see additional classrooms built by the end of this year, given the expectation there would be 450-460 pupils by then.

The number of pupils would determine how many classrooms would need to be built. No costings had been calculated yet.

An extra four classrooms could be built relatively quickly and kept consistent with the award-winning design of the school on its site at the end of Ahuwhenua Pod, near Boyes Cres. This would allow for an extra 100 pupils.

The school has 20 classrooms.

"Our priority at the moment is to work with the community and try to get our pre-enrolment figures in as soon as we can," Mr Stalker said.

That would assist with planning, particularly for next year, he said. Plunket information indicated a lot of children turning 5 and coming to school next year.

"That's going to affect all schools, and we really want the community to know we need to plan ahead for future accommodation.

"We'd like them to say, 'Yes, I live in your zone' and 'Yes, I will be coming to your school next year'."

 

 

 

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