$4m for new classrooms in Waikato schools
EducationAround $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.