College to get new gym at last
After three years without a gymnasium, Spotswood College will soon have a new state-of-the-art facility as part of an $8 million redevelopment.
The New Plymouth high school’s former gym was closed three years ago due to rotting beams, and was eventually pulled down in July last year.
Principal Mark Bowden said they plan for the new gym to be a community asset.
‘‘The vision of the board is around the idea that this school is a community school,’’ he said.
‘‘On this side of town there are no real community facilities in terms of sport – what is existing is aging.’’
He said the way of the future was using new school facilities for wider community use.
‘‘We can’t have zillions of dollars tied up in buildings that are used eight hours a day, five days a week.’’
The development will also see a new ‘learning street’, a new science block, special needs unit, and several rooms moved around.
The new gym will also double as the school hall, with a performing arts centre and library moving into the current hall.
The Te Reo Maori room will move into the library at the front of the school. The old two-story buildings at the back will come down.
They are also fundraising for a possible extension to the current gym plans.
‘‘We’re just not going to know ourselves, having all this stuff.’’
He said the project, which is funded by the Ministry of Education, was overdue after it was put on hold after the Christchurch earthquakes and the leaky buildings issues in Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
The students often stopped him to ask about the project, Bowden said.
‘‘It all seems a bit big at the moment but once the gym starts that’s really going to engage them.
‘‘It is going to be disruptive but it’s the price we’ll have to pay for pretty much a new school.’’
The special needs unit will be completed by the beginning of term one next year, the gymnasium in for the start of term two in April 2018 and the science block for the start of 2019.
The redevelopment is set to be completed in 2022.