Property Update: 

Room 19 exterior repaint - it has given a bit of life to the room.

Room 19 is the oldest classroom on our school site - by a LONG stretch. It had Louvre windows, old wooden joinery that was in a poor state, old carpet, a blackboard, and old roof tiles, and it was tired and dilapidated.

We had been holding off upgrading this room and rooms 14 and 15 (and 12 and 13) because the Ministry had progressed a new Master Plan for our school. That plan was to remove all our middle and junior school classrooms and move the hall down to where rooms 16, 17, 18 and 19 currently are.

It was also planned to put a new three-story, 28-classroom block in the place where our current junior classrooms, 3 to 10, are. This plan had gone through every funding and planning approval step necessary and was good to go.

Because the plan was to remove all middle and junior school classrooms, we had planned not to go ahead with the million-dollar upgrade for them.

Then Covid-19 struck, and the government needed to claw back funds to pay for the cost of keeping businesses open, providing health care, supporting distance learning, and so on. Crucial spending that got us through a dreadful pandemic.

This meant our Master Plan went on hold and is likely to be about seven years away. That meant a change of plans for us; we couldn't put off the middle school upgrade that long. 

Rooms 11 and 14 to 19 are now upgraded and our children and teachers love their upgraded teaching and learning environments. Rooms 12 and 13 will be done over the Christmas holiday period. We would have loved to do them sooner, but for a variety of reasons, this is the soonest we can get them done.

Managing school property is a balancing act, and sometimes, no matter how carefully you plan, a spanner gets thrown in the works (such as Covid-19), and all your plans are undone.