Final fair farewell at Redcliffs School
Thousands have turned up to say a bittersweet final farewell to Christchurch’s Redcliffs School site.
After battling to return to its community since it was pushed out by the earthquakes in June
2011, the school is set to move to a new location at Redcliffs Park in
mid-2019. It has been operating from the Van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Sumner since mid-2011.
With the buildings at the school’s Main Rd site due to be demolished next year due to the risk of rock fall from the cliff behind it, yesterday’s annual school fair was the last chance for the wider community to send off the school site.
Redcliffs School principal Rose McInerney said about 4000 people attended the event. ‘‘It’s been awesome, absolutely packed.’’
Only teachers and other staff have had limited access to the school in the last six years.
‘‘It was a really nostalgic opportunity for many to just come back and have a walk around the site they haven’t been allowed onto for six years,’’ McInerney said.
The Christchurch City Council decided in September to sell Redcliffs Park to the Ministry of Education so a new school could be built on the site. In return, the existing school site on Main Rd, Redcliffs would become a park.
The decision was the last major hurdle to the school returning to its community.
McInerney said the past six years had been challenging, ‘‘but also very positive seeing the best of people’’. ‘‘It’s been a massive, long journey for us and it has been a really challenging journey, but I guess what we’ve learnt from it is how a very determined community can achieve such an amazing thing.’’
''... I guess what we've learnt from it is how a very determined community can achieve such an amazing thing." Redcliffs School principal Rose McInerney