School finds new home at church
Wakefield School teachers and staff are set to welcome evacuated pupils today from a temporary base at Hope Community Church.
Wakefield was evacuated on Friday as the threat to the village grew from a large forest fire that started in Pigeon Valley last Tuesday.
In what has been a huge logistical exercise, the school community has put in place preparations to provide a programme for the children, who can be dropped off at the church in Ranzau Rd from 8.30am.
‘‘We’re on top of it,’’ principal Peter Verstappen said yesterday.
‘‘Police let us into our own school this morning to gather supplies, and we have the full support of Ranzau School across the road.’’
Verstappen said he knew from his own experience of the Christchurch earthquake that it was important, for children especially, to establish ‘‘some sort of normality’’ as soon as possible after an emergency event. This was a key reason why the team had worked so hard to re-establish a school programme.
Reopening the school would also enable working parents to get to their jobs, he said.
‘‘You can be up one moment and down the next.’’
Peter Verstappen, Wakefield School principal
Verstappen said it was hard to tell how the wider school community was coping, because everyone had scattered since the evacuation.
‘‘Really, it’s only through social media that we’re keeping up.
‘‘I know from my own quake experience that you can be up one moment and down the next. Some people cope OK, others struggle.’’
Talks were being held with Civil Defence about ‘‘them or Red Cross providing some liaison staff for parents and others who may need a cup of tea and a chat’’, he said.