Hutt Valley High students to return to school campus

Senior students at Hutt Valley High School will be able to return to the classroom next month.

The school was forced to close its Block C in March after dangerous levels of mould were found in the building.

The closure affected 18 classrooms and teaching spaces, with year 12 and 13 students forced to spend half their week doing distance learning. But in a newsletter sent out on Friday, tumuaki (principal) Denise Johnson announced the students would be back in the classroom full time from the start of term 3 on July 26.

Johnson told The Dominion Post yesterday that staff, students and parents were relieved at the news. ‘‘One parent emailed me and suggested that there has been a collective sigh of relief from all year 12 and year 13 parents,’’ she said.

‘‘Staff are delighted. It has been hard work bouncing between face-to-face teaching for one lesson and preparing yourself for online the next.’’

In order for the students to be able to come back full time, the school brought two teaching spaces back into use, after remediation work and air testing to ensure safety.

Six or so teachers had to agree to work across two sites in order to make the plan work.

Class timetables will be adjusted slightly to allow for walk time between the two sites.

Many classrooms in the school are still unable to be used.

Some staff and students are still based in the library, and the school hall is being used as a dance studio.

Building surveyors began working on site yesterday to assess the weather-tightness of all the school buildings.

Plans are being drawn up for a new building to replace the mould-ridden Block C, which will

include a total of 20 classroom spaces. The school’s dramas have not ended though. Yesterday, the school’s playing fields were flooded.

‘‘The flooding happens when we get lots of rain and a really high tide – it happens every five years or so,’’ Johnson said via email to The Dominion Post.

‘‘Great excitement for year 9 boys – but ignored by everyone else!’’

She said there was no flooding in the school’s buildings.