136 | Local iwi engaged The project includes a large koru embedded in the concrete from one of the entrances to greet everyone into the whānau space. T T Aimee Wilson COMMUNITY Queenstown Primary School: Southbase Construction The rebuild of Queenstown Primary School is part of a 10-year masterplan, developing a community asset and enriching the lives of the vastly diverse resident population. The large-scale redevelopment was officially opened in July 2024, and this quickly followed another $400,000 project creating the cultural narrative of the school. Alongside 10 new classrooms – repurposed from Wakatipu High School, is a new junior playground, whānau room with cooking facilities, sandpit, Astroturf surfaces and upgraded hard courts thanks to funding from Aotearoa Gaming Trust, Central Lakes Trust and the Community Trust of Southland. Principal, Fiona Cavanagh engaged local iwi to create the cultural narrative, which emphasises the importance of the story behind the site pre-European when plants flourished and an abundance of native birds inhabited the trees. Four maunga look down upon the site. The project includes a large koru embedded in the concrete from one of the entrances to greet everyone into the whānau space – a place for people to gather. “Four pou represent the house groups named after the maunga. In the future, a wāharoa will be built above the front steps and our story will be captured in the design,” Fiona explains. A base has been set in the grounds to create a celestial compass that, in time, will signal puaka, the Matariki star seen from the site. The final stage will be funded as part of the school’s new ‘QPS Project.’ A specially designed website has been launched to drive the next stage of fundraising: www.qpsproject.org Driven by the Board of Trustees, the project is being set up to also create a financial resource that can help support families with school camps and skiing. Ten per cent of the school population is non-English speaking, and with such increasingly diverse families attending, it was seen as important that everyone could access extra-curricular activities. “We’ve been deliberate about the organisation of the school and the design of the new build. We always had a strategic goal of having the school at the heart of the community,” deputy principal Matt Leach says. Matt and the teachers have already noticed a shift in the students’ attitudes, and how they get on with each other. “Their readiness to learn is a lot better, because they have so many spaces to learn.” Large, grassed areas alongside rolling terraces form a natural amphitheatre on four different levels, so they can fit the entire school in one contained outdoor space. “We’ve increased our footprint with clever landscaping, and this involved excavating up to one metre across the entire site to create a suitable building platform,” says Matt. INSTALLATION SPECIALISTS IN COMMERCIAL SEWER, STORMWATER, AND POTABLE WATER. CODC and QLDC approved contractors Servicing the Central Otago Region 0274 487 264 terry@altacivil.co.nz altacivil.co.nz LET’S DISCUSS YOUR NEXT PROJECT. 027 630 9206 www.kclbuild.nz Proud to support Southbase Construction with the Queenstown Primary School project. For your landscaping and construction work.
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