Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced recently that Heddon Bush School was one of two Southland educational institutions which would receive new classrooms as part of a $62.5 million package for South Island schools.
Principal Nicola Dunn said she was ‘‘thrilled’’ to hear a new classroom was on its way.
‘‘The new space will alleviate classroom pressure, allowing for more flexible learning arrangements.’’
Officially the school had two classrooms for its 65 year 1-8 pupils.
‘‘The other two spaces that we use as classrooms are non-teaching spaces.’’
One of those was a multi-purpose space used all day as a classroom and the other was a small library converted to a teaching space for the morning’s literacy and numeracy programme.
Having the additional space would allow smaller areas to be used for intervention programmes and group instruction, she said.
Southland Boys’ High School and Southland Girls’ High School will receive money to fix long-standing issues.
Southland Boys’ rector Ray Laurenson said he was very pleased to receive the extra funding.
Schools received property funding to maintain buildings but the challenge facing the school was its category two heritage buildings.
‘‘When maintenance is required on these buildings the cost is very high and as a result the maintenance absorbs the majority of the funding, leaving very little for the maintenance of internal learning spaces.’’
The money would be used to replace the north-facing windows in the Pearce Block which are very worn, rusted and single-glazed.
‘‘By gaining the funding for these windows outside of the government property plan, we will also be able to plan well overdue refurbishment of key learning spaces within the school such as science laboratories.’’
The roll had increased steeply in the past five years.
‘‘By ensuring that we can invest in our science labs and other specialist learning spaces, we can ensure that we are in a position to effectively deliver the new curriculum that is being introduced.’’
Southland Girls’ principal John Grogan said the funding would be used to renovate the west wing of the school, upgrading the external cladding and windows.
‘‘The work will be staged over the next few years and future-proof our iconic building.’’
Fiordland College will also receive two classrooms.
Principal Steven Mustor is on leave and could not be contacted.
Ms Stanford said the investment would add 59 additional classrooms throughout the South Island and provide funding for upgrades at other schools.
‘‘We are ensuring that students are learning in safe, warm, dry and fit-for-purpose classrooms as their communities grow,’’ she said.
The ministry will work with these schools to confirm scope and get the projects under way in the coming months.
