Welcome revamp for Northland College

Northland College principal Jim Luders can't wait for the opening of the school's $14 million rebuild. Photo / John Stone

The principal of Kaikohe's Northland College says staff and students are "hugely excited" at the prospect of moving into their new school building in just a few months' time.

The main construction phase in the $14 million rebuild has been completed with attention now turning to internal fit-out and landscaping.

Principal Jim Luders hoped to move in at the start of term three, around July 24.

Once the new building was complete the administration block - apart from the pool, the only part of the old school buildings to be retained - would be updated and the old buildings would be demolished.

The new school was not split into classrooms but consisted mainly of one large open space for "a totally new way of teaching", Mr Luders said.

Staff had visited schools in Auckland designed along the same lines and were as excited as the students.

"They can't wait to get in there. It's a fresh broom, something new and uplifting. It will be an asset for the whole community."

A new building would have a positive effect on learning. It was difficult to instil pride and mana in the current, "ghetto-like" buildings, he said.

Mr Luders praised the building firm, Whangarei-based A-Line Builders, and the school's ministry contact for making sure the project ran smoothly.

Northland College made headlines in June 2015 after ERO inspectors discovered that repairs deemed urgent three years earlier had not been carried out. Doors and windows were broken, leaks had caused ceilings to rot and sag, toilet fittings were broken and some ceilings were black with mould.

Publicity about "the worst classrooms in the country" sparked a flurry of activity and top-level meetings between school staff and government officials. The Education Ministry spent more than $1m on urgent health and safety repairs, which included replacing a toilet block deemed beyond repair.

Plans to rebuild the college at a cost of $14m were announced in August 2015. The contract was awarded to A-Line in December 2015 with the first part of the complex - the future trades centre, currently used as a flexible learning space for a range of subjects - opening in November 2016. It is the biggest project in Kaikohe since the construction of Ngawha Prison.