‘Education hub’ opens for students cut off from schools by Helena Bay Hill slip

Students cut off from their high schools by the monster slip are taking lessons at a temporary 'education hub' set up at a local primary school. Photo / Denise Piper

By Peter de Graaf - RNZ

Northland secondary students cut off from their schools by a massive slip are taking lessons at a temporary “education hub” until the road can be reopened.

Last month’s deluge triggered a landslide on Russell Rd which has cut off the main road access for coastal communities northeast of Whangārei.

While the road to the north has reopened following repairs to a washed-out bridge, the detour via the Ōpua ferry adds at least an extra two hours each way to the journey to Whangārei.

The Ministry of Education said students in Helena Bay, Ōakura and Whangaruru normally attended four different high schools in Whangārei.

Isabel Evans, hautū (leader) for Te Tai Raro-North, said an education hub had been established at a local primary school so the affected students could continue learning.

Lessons at He Puna Ruku Mātauranga o Whangaruru, or Whangaruru School, started last Monday .

Evans said students attending the hub would remain enrolled at their usual schools. Learning would be supported on-site using Whangaruru School’s facilities, with students working at their current year levels using learning packs provided by their enrolled schools.

“School leaders will remain in regular contact with hub staff, the students and whānau. The hub will remain in place until the slip is cleared or the road is deemed safe to travel.”

Earlier, Whangārei District Council infrastructure committee chairman Brad Flower said the slip at Helena Bay Hill involved around 100,000cu m of mud, boulders and trees. Some of the boulders weighed as much as 100 tonnes apiece.

Flower said even if contractors were able to shift 1000cu m of debris a day, and worked every day with no weather interruptions, it would take three months to clear the road.

Only once the slip was cleared would it be known if the road itself had been damaged.

In the meantime, the council had opened up an alternative “lifeline route” south to Whangārei via Pigs Head Rd and Kaiikanui Rd.

But that route was narrow, steep and unsealed, with traffic only allowed through in convoys at set times, one direction at a time.

A local state of emergency in the Hikurangi-Coastal Ward, which included the coastal communities worst affected by the storm, was lifted on February 3.