Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education
25 October 2016
Media Statement
$4m for new classrooms in Waikato schools
Around $4 million will be invested to build a total of 11 new classrooms at six Waikato schools, Education Minister
Hekia Parata announced today.
The schools are:
Raglan Area School – two new classrooms
Whatawhata School – two new classrooms
Forest Lake School – one new classroom
Hamilton East School – three new classrooms
Kaipaki School – one classroom
Matangi School – two classrooms.
“This is part of a second round of investments in new classrooms under Budget 2016, which provides $882.5 million for
school property, including 480 new classrooms to meet roll growth,” says Ms Parata.
The first round of investments was announced in May and June this year. That saw Waikato benefit from around $30 million
for the new Sylvester Primary School and the expansion of Endeavour Primary School in Hamilton.
“Like other parts of the country, the Waikato is experiencing population growth and that’s having a flow-on effect on
local school rolls,” says Ms Parata.
“Today’s announcement, and the investments announced earlier this year, show the Government is committed to expanding
capacity at schools experiencing roll growth.
“We want to ensure that local students learn in physical school environments that inspire and support them to achieve to
the very best of their potential.”
Whatawhata and Forest Lake Schools are members of the North West Hamilton (He Waka Eke Noa) Community of Learning (CoL),
while Hamilton East School belongs to the Hamilton Central CoL, Kaipaki to the Cambridge CoL and Matangi to the
Hillcrest CoL.
“Communities of Learning are about schools collaborating to share expertise and increase student achievement, and it is
great that many schools in the Waikato region are utilising this,” says Ms Parata.
More announcements as part of the second round of investments in roll growth classrooms will be made over the coming
weeks, with a third round of investments expected to be announced in February next year.
ends