School ‘blessed’ with new rooms
A Nelson Catholic primary and intermediate school has welcomed the archbishop of Wellington to bless its new classrooms.
St Joseph’s School has added two new learning spaces to its grounds, and on Saturday about 140 people turned up to see the new rooms blessed.
Deputy principal Nicola Hewitt said the formal procedure of blessing involved prayers and the sprinkling of holy water by Cardinal John Dew. ‘‘It was incredibly significant to have someone within that hierarchy of the church to come and do the blessing.’’
There was also a kapa haka performance by pupils.
The new buildings are designed to be a modern learning environment, with breakout spaces instead of a traditional single classroom.
‘‘It gives the kids the autonomy to be able to go and work in a space that suits them better,’’ Hewitt said. ‘‘So some might like to work lying on the ground, some might like to work outside, some might like to work sitting at a desk.’’
St Joseph’s board chair Angela Osborne said the space had been designed to be flexible.
‘‘There are doors where it can be the traditional classroom if you like, but then we can open it up to a really big space.
‘‘There’s a big deck out the front, so we can open those doors and [the deck] just becomes an extension of the classroom.’’
Osborne said the new rooms had been ‘‘a long time coming’’, with discussions under way for the past two years, but the school needed to have the funds to build them.
The Catholic archdiocese had been the primary funder for the build, and the local parish community had given the land on loan.
Osborne said the challenge had been to develop them in a way that suited the style of the ‘‘beautiful old buildings’’ already at the school, and also retaining St Joseph’s’ ‘‘small school feeling’’ while catering to a growing roll.
‘‘Our buildings are not just buildings, but places where children can thrive in their learning.’’
Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese also attended the opening of the new classrooms.