School ground gets colourful makeover

JP Priest at work this week laying astroturf at St Mary’s Primary School. He travels from Kaitaia to Bluff installing the all-weather surface, mostly at schools, some in “the middle of nowhere”. Picture by Liam Clayton

Getting ready to roll for the new school year, contractor JP Priest started laying astroturf over the old concrete netball court at St Mary’s Primary School this week.

Mr Priest expects to finish the work early next week — in time for students to enjoy the upgraded space when they return to school on February 1.

The job is a specialist one.  Mr Priest is one of a select group of qualified installers scattered around the country and travels from Kaitaia to Bluff for his work, 90 percent of which he estimates is for schools.

He says astroturf is a non-abrasive and colourful alternative to what were previously quite dull concrete spaces, and makes the environment “really shine”.

He estimates as many as 80 percent of New Zealand schools now have astroturf surfaces in their recreation areas —“even some country schools in the middle of nowhere with only 15 kids”.

Meanwhile, St Mary’s principal Helen McGuigan is pleased with the new look and safer surface, which will be marked out for alternative use as either a netball, basketball, or tennis court.

She says the school received about 75 percent of the funding needed for the turf project through a Government initiative to update school environments. However, state-integrated schools such as St Mary’s had to wait a bit longer and fight a bit harder than state schools for their share.

The school’s Friends of St Mary’s group — the equivalent of a state school’s Parent Teacher Association — did some additional fundraising for new rotatable basketball and netball hoops that will also be installed.

Ms McGuigan says St Mary’s has been “blessed” with several exciting new projects in the past few years, including a bike track and new modern learning environment.

“This is kind of just finishing things off for us.”