Hon Erica Stanford
Minister of Education

The Government is ensuring hundreds more students benefit from safe, warm and dry learning areas by delivering a new school and more classrooms into communities that need them most.

“Through our decisive action to improve efficiency and performance in school property delivery, $100 million has been freed up for areas across the country that have growing school rolls. With a 35 per cent increase in the number of standardised and repeatable designs, we have reduced the price per classroom by 28 per cent. We can now provide an additional 67 teaching spaces in Auckland and in the Kaupapa Māori Education network to help meet growing demand,” Education Minister Erica Stanford says.

The following projects will be delivered in Auckland:

• A new 600-student primary school in Massey, which will include two satellite learning support spaces for Arohanui School.
• An 18-classroom expansion for Ormiston Senior College, which includes associated administration spaces and a staff room extension.
• A two-storey block of ten new classrooms at Scott Point Primary School.

The following projects will be delivered for the Kaupapa Māori Education network.

• Two new classrooms at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutu in Rotorua.
• Four new senior school classrooms and a permanent site for Te Kura Kaupapa o Hawaiki Hou in Gisborne.
• Three new classrooms at Manutuke School in Gisborne.
• Two new classrooms at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whakarewa I Te Reo Ki Tuwharetoa in Taupō.

 “For Te Kura Kaupapa o Hawaiki Hou, this means moving from and unsuitable learning environment they have leased for seven years.

“Detailed planning for all projects is underway, with construction set to begin soon after. Our priority is to get these projects delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible so that students, teachers and communities benefit sooner,” Ms Stanford says.

”This reinvestment has been made possible by accelerating and improving the cost-effectiveness of new builds using standard designs and offsite manufacturing. We want to be responsive to changing student numbers while ensuring our solutions represent the best value for money.

“This Government is focused on raising student achievement and closing the equity gap and to do that our children need warm, safe and dry classrooms. Our drive for efficiency and good value for money is delivering more of these classrooms across New Zealand.”

Notes:

Over the last year the Ministry of Education has made significant improvements to the delivery of school property, including:

• 30% increase in the number of classrooms delivered,
• 35% increase in the number of standardised or repeatable designs,
• 28% reduction in the average cost of each classroom.

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