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New Classrooms For North Canterbury Kura
Tamariki at a North Canterbury kura (school) will be moving into new classrooms in term two.
Te Kura o Tuahiwi, which sits between Kaiapoi and Rangiora, held a blessing on the last day of term one (Friday, April 11) to mark the completion of six new classrooms to support its growing school roll.
Board of trustees presiding member Charlie Agi said it was a relief to open the new classrooms after years of planning and delays.
‘‘Tuahiwi has come along way with the build.
‘‘It is awesome to see the classrooms go up and the hall to follow.
‘‘It has taken a while, but there is a process to go through.’’
A new school hall is on track to open later in the year, ‘‘which will be awesome for the community of Tuahiwi’’, Mr Agi said.
‘‘The hall is under construction and the frame is up.
‘‘The cool thing about that for the kids will be that on a wet day they can migrate into the hall for play and to do school stuff.’’
Work had been due to get under way in December 2023, but was put on hold while the Ministry of Education reviewed 352 building projects last year.
When the project was put on hold, principal Dot Singh wrote to the Ministry of Education and Education Minister Erica Stanford to plead the school’s case.
It is the only kura between Christchurch and Kaikōura to offer full Māori immersion and bilingual education.
The growing school roll is now hovering around the 200 mark.
The new classrooms included four for roll growth and the replacement of two classrooms.
They were manufactured offsite.
The hall is designed to hold 250 people, meaning the kura will finally be able to hold full school assemblies, prizegivings and indoor sports.
The kura regularly supports the Marae across the road by hosting people on site before they are welcomed on to the Marae. Last year the kura supported the Marae with the visit by the Māori Queen.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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