Old Sunset Intermediate blocks gone

Half of the old Sunset Intermediate buildings have been demolished, a sad sight for many past students.

Former student Holly Tamai said it was upsetting watching them pull down the Sunset Intermediate technology block on Friday, on Sunset Rd, the place where she learnt to cook as a girl.

"It is really sad watching them demolish it ... we had some good memories here," she said.

Sunset Intermediate was closed at the start of 2007 under the name Sunset Junior High School.

The school was closed with a roll of just 68 students, because this was deemed unviable by the Ministry of Education.

"I was a student here in the 1970s and I had one of my sons go here as well," Mrs Tamai said.

The buildings were knocked down to provide better access and parking to other education providers who are now sharing part of the site.

The buildings which were demolished last week included the technology block with four classrooms, the old dental clinic and the caretaker's building.

The buildings which have not been demolished are those used by the Rotorua School for Young Parents, Rotorua School For Young Parents Childcare and Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hurungaterangi school.

A kohanga reo, Maori pre-school, is also located at the back of the site.

Principal Annette Joyce of Rotorua Girls' High School, which runs the Rotorua School for Young Parents, said for the past few years an exact boundary was being decided on by those involved on the site and the ministry in order to separate the kaupapa and the school for young parents.

She said the ministry had funded the operation and would put in a fence to separate Te Kura Kaupapa from the school for young parents.

Mrs Joyce said the Ministry of Education had decided to knock down the buildings which were not being used, putting in parking and better access for the current education providers.

Sunset Intermediate was opened in the mid 1960s.

Mrs Tamai was a student at Sunset Intermediate when Peter Winks was principal.