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Whangaparaoa Primary School’s leaky and rundown hall is to be transformed by a $750,000 repair and refurbishment project, which is only one-third funded by the Ministry of Education.
Currently, the hall requires a lot of maintenance, the cladding is failing and the roof leaks.
Although the building’s footprint will not change, cladding and roofing will be replaced and inside it will be updated with flexible and functional spaces so that more than one type of activity can take place at the same time.
“A lot of the spaces are storage and we want them for music, arts, fitness as well as meeting rooms,” principal Kevin Cronin says. “A number of community groups already use the facility, but this will open it up to others.”
Community feedback supports the desire for a multi-use hall, with good toilets and air conditioning at the top of the list.
Helen Brown, who is on the committee in charge of the project, says the building is one-third owned by the Ministry of Education and the rest by the community.
“At the end of last year the Ministry agreed to put in one-third of what we raise, and also approved the project,” she says.
The project was first mooted in 2017. With resource consent and Ministry approval in place, it is now at the pointy end of making applications to funders such as Lotteries.
Kevin says it is not possible to put the $400,000 cash injection handed out by the Government last year, which he calls “Jacinda’s gift”, towards the work on the hall.
“The planning started three years ago, so the arrangements around how we would try and secure funds, as well as Ministry support, is already in place,” he says. “The injection of money from Jacinda at the end of last year was a welcome surprise and means we can target other property projects that are needed to progress our environment for students and teachers.”
He says although the school’s PFA will make a contribution, it is expected that most of the money will come from grants.
Gulf Harbour gives up on hall
Meanwhile, Gulf Harbour School has given up on its dream of building a school hall. The school was built without a hall, and currently whole-school assemblies take place on the netball courts. Fundraising and plans for a hall began around three years ago. Principal Mel Crosbie says they eventually came to realise that a price tag of $3.8 million was beyond reach. She says the money raised so far will instead be put towards converting and extending an existing space into a large, multi-purpose area for the students and community to use. It is hoped that work will begin this year.
Dairy Flat hall work
Dairy Flat School is funding an upgrade of its hall toilets, with the money coming from the PTA and Board of Trustees as well as the Dairy Flat Community Trust. The work is expected to cost $68,000. Principal Debbie Marshall says the school is in the process of planning how to spend last year’s ‘windfall’ funding from the Government.
