Building school up

Pat Newman, Hora Hora Primary School principal , outside 10 new classrooms which are being constructed at the school to cope with roll growth and to replace old classrooms. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A burgeoning roll and a need to replace old classrooms has meant 10 new classrooms with shared spaces containing kitchens are being built at a Northland school

Hora Hora Primary School, in Whangarei, had a roll of about 250 students five years ago which now stands at 390.

Principal Pat Newman said in 2013 and 2014 the school roll had a rapid increase with about 100 new entrants per year. This, and old classrooms, are the reason 10 new classrooms are being constructed at the school.

"Four of the classrooms are because of a roll increase and six are because the classrooms that were there were old so they needed to be replaced." he said.

The $6.89 million project is being funded by the Ministry of Education.

The new two-storey building will include six shared spaces, complete with an oven, fridge, microwave and toasted sandwich maker. There will be two showers and a resource room. "We can combine maths and cooking to teach kids measurements, we will be able to put some milk in the fridge and put bread in there and peanut butter so the if the kids get hungry they can make themselves something to eat. We can teach them how to cook so they can go home and do it. It's great," Mr Newman said.

He said the new classrooms also gave teachers more options. "There is space for one-on-one learning, we've never had that before. It's going to allow teachers to combine classes if they want because there's doors between classrooms and each class will have the latest furniture."

Construction began at the end of last year and is expected to be completed by December 14.