106 | COMMUNITY Rangiora New Life School: Korucon We install structured cabling into Commercial Buildings, Businesses, Schools. Our other services include Fibre Optic Cabling, Security and AV Cabling. Free Quotes No Obligation Brent Richardson 0274 839 530 PO Box 2908 Christchurch Brent@kiwicoms.co.nz Ph: 381 5600 18 Years Experience in Commercial, Residential & Industrial Services. 021 251 2968 hilton@hbullelectrical.nz Boulton Piling & Cartage • Foundation Piles - Housing and Light Commercial • Steel piles up to 300mm x 300mm • Timber Piles up to 300 small end diametre Allan Boulton 03 313 8182 a.j.boulton@xtra.co.nz 027 434 2831 Solid Foundations for Canterbury Builds Let’s discuss your site plans today! 26B Newnham St., Rangiora From housing projects to light commercial builds, we provide expert piling and reliable cartage services right here in Rangiora. T T Rosa Watson New block reflects school’s growing roll The state-integrated Year 1 to Year 13 Christian school in Rangiora near Christchurch, which will celebrate its 50th year in 2029, was last year granted a roll extension to add another 100 students. “We draw our zone, or a catchment area from the Hurunui River down to the Waimakariri River, and the coast to the foothills. So quite a big patch.” Rangiora New Life School is celebrating the opening of a brand-new classroom block this year, as its roll continues to grow. The state-integrated Year 1 to Year 13 Christian school in Rangiora near Christchurch, which will celebrate its 50th year in 2029, was last year granted a roll extension to add another 100 students. The roll now sits at around 500, which will grow to 570 in a couple of years’ time as new classes are added, principal Stephen Walters says. Construction firm Korucon led the construction of a seven-classroom block, which was completed this year with a new Year 3/4 class starting in the second term. The second part of the expansion will be an upgrade to the administration block. “Our administration block was built when the school roll was 200, so clearly it’s a little bit small, and it’s all a bit tight. “Wwe’re expanding the admin space and generally just giving more spaces for more people that we now have working in administration.” The third part of the expansion will be the car park. “Clearly, more parents, more staff, more students, we need more space in the car park too,” says Stephen. He says the roll increase was approved in phases.. “We’ve added an extra Year 3/4 class this year, we’re adding another Year 5/6 class next year, and a Year 7/8 class the following year. “All of the construction was done for the roll increase that’s happening over, not just this year, but for the next two years, particularly in our primary area.” He says the next step is to approach the Ministry about growing the secondary school. “Because clearly, if you’ve got a combined Year 1 to 13 school, and you add more students in your primary area, eventually they get to go to secondary. I’m envisaging that we’ll have another bit of building, perhaps, ahead of us in a few years’ time too.” The school is the only one of its type in North Canterbury, Stephen says. “We draw our zone, or a catchment area from the Hurunui River down to the Waimakariri River, and the coast to the foothills. So quite a big patch.” Almost half of the students come to school by bus from as far as Amberley, Oxford, Kaiapoi and Ohoka. The other half comes from the local Rangiora area. The decision to expand the Year 3 and 4 classes first was strategic and demographic, Stephen says. “We’ve always had significant demand in the mid to the upper parts of primary. “So, it made sense to give ourselves a bit more breathing space and a bit more capacity in those areas.” Stephen says there is a desire to keep the school a small to medium-size school, and sitting on four hectares, there is plenty of space for students. “For this time we are just focused on getting the roll to somewhere in the upper 600s, and we think that’s a good number for the site and its size. “We still want the green space, the trees and all those sorts of things. “It’s really important to us that the kids have places to play, places to experience a bit of fun at lunchtime or morning tea and have the sports field. “Even with all of this work, and with a proposed secondary block that will be needed going forward, we’ll still be able to retain our sports fields, including our 400-metre track. And I think that’s really important for kids to have green space to recreate on.” Korucon was “fantastic” to work with, he says. The location of the new building in the corner of the school allowed it to easily continue operations while construction was underway. “Korucon were very mindful, respectful of the fact that they were building while the school’s working, and I can’t thank them enough for not being at all intrusive to the operations of the school,” says Stephen. “What we’ve got is a building that meets our needs exactly. It’s high quality, it’s solid, it’s got a lovely design to it. It’s a building that’s going to last for a few generations.”
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