School library to be reborn
Not quite 20 years since it went up, the library at Koraunui School has fallen victim to leaky building syndrome.
Pupils at the primary school in Kairimu St, Stokes Valley will see their two-storey library demolished and replaced with two new classrooms by the start of term 3 in late July.
The library will be resurrected in two older classrooms and possibly renamed the Information Centre to reflect modern times.
Principal Barbara Hay said the building was inspected about two years ago and the expert advice was that it would be more costeffective to knock it down and start again.
‘‘ It’s just porridge inside the walls.
‘‘But it’s an opportunity for us to get something better for the school.’’
The Ministry of Education is funding the construction of two classrooms in its place, which will give the pupils more room to learn. The library will fit into the old rooms.
The school’s co-ed roll has about 350 students aged between five and 11, in school years 0 to 6.
Earlier this month they had a karakia with parents and others to farewell their library, which has been fenced off by a construction company, in early March. Some of the past pupils once helped make a mural of tiles, which had been on display in the library foyer.
Hay hoped these would be saved from demolition and perhaps live on in the new space. She was also hoping to find a time capsule that had been buried when the library was built.
Pupil Boston Doherty, 9, imagined the capsule would look like something out of Pixar’s Cars 2, something with big handles, and nuts and bolts.
It sounded exciting, and he looked forward to digging through old photos and treasures from the past.
Koraunui School was established in 2005 after the merger of Kamahi and Stokes Valley Schools and sits at the original Stokes Valley School site.