Schools in Golden Bay
Golden Bay is soon to say goodbye to school interruptions as building works finish at both Golden Bay High School and Collingwood Area School. Teachers (and students) will be looking forward to a new year with no noise, dust or distractions. Collingwood Area School has said goodbye to the last remaining building of the twentieth century, a classroom block built in 1937. Originally it had housed the newly opened secondary school in one room, with the other two rooms catering for children from ages five to twelve.
Open plan schooling is not a new concept, though back in 1940 there were fewer to teach, with only 53 primary and 25 secondary students registered. This concludes the massive building project that has seen the complete school rebuilt over the last year.
There are few regrets about this progress. One monster in the room is actually in the room, as both schools now have the dubious honour of being fully carpeted with recycled plastic rather than the wool carpet previously in place, and under that, wooden flooring which was probably milled from local trees.
It seems the change in Government this year has come too late for these schools as the incoming Government announced just in December that all Government buildings (which includes schools) that were planning on recarpeting would be using wool. Rural Women NZ (RWNZ) and Federated Farmers have long lobbied for this and are absolutely delighted in this change.
Rural communities are the backbone of these schools and RWNZ, previously known as Federated Farmers’ Women’s Division, has been integral in providing the extras that aren’t covered by the Ministry of Education’s budget.
Where there is insufficient funding to cover trips away, RWNZ often steps in to fill the gap. The same can be said for repainting the school pool and supporting the library and netball teams.
In Collingwood, the local branches of RWNZ have a close connection with the school. ‘We have been very delighted to be hosted each year by the Principal who has kept us appraised of the progress as this building project has come to fruition’, says Carolyn McLellan, President of the Bainham Rural Women. A farewell to the old classroom block was held in December, just before the school term ended, with many ex-pupils attending. Unfortunately, classes were still to be held in these rooms for a few days after the gathering, which rather hindered the itch to write something very naughty on the walls, throw rocks through the windows or to take a bit of the skirting board home for old time’s sake.