New classrooms land at Pahiatua School

Lowering the first of six modules into place.

Two new classrooms were landed in six modules at Pahiatua School on Tuesday, July 28. They arrived on six trucks and were removed by a large crane.

The installation started with the arrival of a crane which put its legs down to find the ground was sinking. Workers had to return to Palmerston North to get bigger platforms to spread the weight better.

Up, up and away.

The classrooms came as six modules (a fairly new idea) on six trucks, fabricated near Wellington with colours to match the existing buildings. They were installed in one day, made weather-tight and were locked up.

The school roll is stable at around 400 pupils but two classes have been held in the hall for the past three to four years.

"It's really just catch-up," said principal Lynne Huddleston.

"The classes will come out of the hall and go into the new classrooms. We'll then have our hall back to use.

"We've had to go down to the Town Hall for gymnastics and things like that. The new classrooms were quite a talking point in town on Tuesday.

"It's great that it's finally here, we certainly appreciate it, I know the kids and the teachers will. The kids were really interested watching the crane - it's the biggest one ever at Pahiatua School. The precision was really good when the modules were being lowered down.

"Our learning modules that we're focused on this term happen to be for building, 'This is the house.'

"The Ministry of Education's approach to new classrooms now is that they pre-construct them using their standard plan, which is up with the play for design.

"They are very good inside with ample wiring for data ports and power points. The ministry consulted well ahead of the construction. We designed what we wanted inside it.

"One classroom has a focus teaching room, the other has two unisex toilets (which is the latest trend), a wet room and a storage area. They are nice big areas. There is a glass partition between the two rooms with opening doors so they can either merge together or be separate.

"Having good facilities for the teachers is so important. There is talk about wellbeing and work loads - if you're teaching in a nice area, that reduces all those stresses. This assists with the retention of teachers - getting them is a lot harder these days. We have 16 classroom teachers and four to five release teachers available.

"We are preparing a 10-year property plan and are looking at refurbishment of classrooms and adding outdoor areas," the principal said.