Hohepa's $2.25m makeover

MARY SHANAHAN
Hohepa Hawke's Bay is planning to redevelop its special needs school in Poraiti over the next two years. Fundraising is well under way, with $1.35 million committed to the $2.25 million project - including $500,000 from the J D Harris Family Trust.
The existing school, established 49 years ago with help from the late Sir Lewis Harris, no longer meets modern building standards and educational needs of pupils aged seven to 21.
"The condition of the school called for the redesign," said principal Gaby Jansen. "We know if we are to get integration, we have to have a new school building."
Work is expected to start on the first stage, a stand-alone school support services building, early next year.
Designed by Napier architect Richard Weston, it will be sited on the lower northern slope of Hohepa Homes' 20ha site at Poraiti. Subsequent stages will provide five new classrooms, kitchen and dining room, assembly space and sensory, eurythmy, movement, music, speech and art therapy rooms.
The new block will initially be used as classroom space, until new classrooms in the second and third stages are built.
"This is going to happen," said Hohepa Hawke's Bay general manager Glynne Selman.
"It's not a question of if but when."
About 30 pupils attend the residential school, living in purpose-built ranch-house style accommodation. At McGowan House, for example, a mother and father and their two children live in, linking residential care to school development programmes.
"The school is a home away from home," Mrs Jansen said. "It's a lifestyle option for the children."
As well as Hawke's Bay youngsters, many pupils come from outside the region.
"We have a long waiting list. Often other options have fallen by the wayside and it has not worked for them." Hohepa Hawke's Bay celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. It was started as the result of a collaboration between Sir Lew, a Hawke's Bay farmer, and Majorie Allen.
Miss Allen had returned to New Zealand from working with the Rudolf Steiner community in the UK to help her sister look after a son with Down's Syndrome, while Sir Lew and Lady Harris were committed to providing a more rewarding life for their Down's Syndrome daughter Ruby.
Sir Lew donated the two sites, one at Poraiti, the other at Clive, while Miss Allen contributed her expertise.
Up until the mid-1980s, children, teachers and residential staff lived on site at the school. Now the organisation counts 115 residents and more than 200 staff, many of them part-time. Nine houses at Clive accommodate about 45-50 adults and in Poraiti there are another nine, with 50 adults and the 30 children, all of whom are in the autistic range for special needs.