Previous Communications – Master Planning

Update: Monday 10th October

Access to the school by the two-storied block has been re-instated.

The work on the prefab (loaned by the Ministry of Education to accommodate our roll growth) has been completed. Mrs Sutherland has moved into this space with her learners; the room will be know as Kore.

The hall foundations have been completed.

The foundations of the new block are underway.

Update: Wednesday 7thSeptember

Access to the school by the two-storied block is temporarily closed; please use the gate at the end of the driveway (at the top of the loop).

We have the loan of a prefab from the Ministry of Education; this has been placed next to Rm 1. New entrant students starting in term four will be in this space.

The staffroom is in place. The placement of both this portacom and the prefab isn’t ideal, as it eats into what little play space we have left, however, these were the only options that were acceptable to the CCC.

Update: Wednesday 24th August

Thank you for vacating the site straight after school this week. The asbestos removal has been completed and it is safe for the site to be used out of hours.

We have a portacom arriving today. This will be placed at the end of R21 and will be our staffroom. It will take a number of days to ready it for use.

An additional class space also arrives next week. This will be positioned next to the memorial garden beside R1 and will be used by Nga Kiwi hub.

Drainage works are being completed by the hall space over the weekend.

Update: Thursday 18th August

Asbestos Contaminated Material getting removed from the hall building.

(Please see plans below)

The proposed dates for removal are: Monday 22nd– Thurs 25thAug.

The Asbestos will be removed by Contaminated Site Remediation.

A full asbestos removal plan has been approved by the Ministry Of Education.

Removal Plan

  • Asbestos Removal 1
  • Asbestos Removal 2
  • Asbestos Removal 3
  • Asbestos Removal 4

Update: Monday 15 August

As asbestos has been found in our existing hall structure this has been listed on the hazard board. A comprehensive strategy will be followed by the Southbase team. This will be outlined here as soon as the school has received it.

Update: Wednesday 3 August

We welcome Southbase Construction to our site. Key personnel for this works are:

Brian Macmillan – Site Manager (027 836 0284)

Ross McCulloch – Project Manager

Richard Jack – Operations Manager

Jenni Stuart – Quantity Surveyor

The temporary fences are in place today and work on the hoardings is being completed. Access across the site is impacted significantly. How exciting to have our very own maze!

Update: Thursday 26th July

Site Map

Update: Thursday 21st July

For those of you who have visited the school site over the break, you will see our construction project has been delayed.The Ministry of Education are finalising contracts with the preferred contractor and are in the final stages of obtaining consent, with an expected commencement date of the beginning of August.

Works that were able to be completed are:

  • Tree removal
  • Kitchen installation in the temporary Oakleaf Cafe

We will continue to communicate progress as soon as information comes to hand.

Update: Community Information Evening Tuesday 24th November 2015

Information Evening (The Why and the What!)

Information Evening (Designs Part 1)

Information Evening (Designs Part 2)

Community Consultation

We are fully committed to consulting with you on ideas for future development and we invite you to share ideas using post notes in the foyer or by using this portal through our website. Ideas from our community will be shared with our master planners BaldassoCortese.

Update 2 – 9th June 2014

Master Planning Update 2

The Board of Trustees met with Ministry of Education (MOE) staff on Monday 17 March 2014 to discuss property issues. In December 2013 we were informed that our ‘master plan’ and associated property works were scheduled for 2018. However, since then a number of factors have presented themselves and the Ministry has agreed to ensure we have a strategic approach to any future property works.

Key Outcomes
The MOE are bringing forward our property master planning to address urgent property issues identified. These are:
♣ Library – decommissioned due to contamination with stachybotrys (black mold). It has been confirmed that this is uneconomical to repair.
♣ Hall – the MOE do not want us to lose the $100,000 Community Trust grant for the hall.

Our plan will be two-tiered with urgent issues being addressed this year and less urgent issues being completed in 2018 as per the original schedule, e.g. the administration block, which has weather-tightness issues.

Master Planning Process
1. Visioning – can include infrastructure repair that is prudent to do while other works are being carried out and can include board funded projects.
2. Appointing a master planner, who will either be:
a. Both a master planner and a detailed designer or,
b. A separate master planner and a detailed designer.
3. Go to tender for a designer / contractor.
4. Construction begins.

Visioning
The master planning process involves “visioning” and property planning for the next 20 years and needs to reflect the core values, pedagogy, Charter and the needs of the learning community of St Albans School. Planning is generally a 12-week process, but visioning can add a few weeks to the process in order to truly reflect the needs of the school and community. The board agrees that visioning should not be rushed. A facilitator, appointed by the Ministry will visit the school and work with teachers, leadership and the board to determine the vision. The Board will also be working with Dr Cheryl Doig this year as part of the Charter review, which should assist with the visioning process.

We intend to consult with you as members of our community during the visioning process, as this will be a critical phase in the future of St Albans School. The survey we completed last year will give us some information, but we want to make sure we have everything covered as part of this, as it is our one chance to get this right. We have not yet determined the best way to do this consultation, but will advise you as soon as we have any further information on this part of the process.

The aim of the Ministry of Education’s Greater Christchurch Education Renewal Property Programme is to create more modern schools with improved facilities that reflect the advice of education experts and to support students’ use of the latest learning methods and technologies. All modern learning environment (MLE) classroom upgrades must comply with the Designing Quality Learning Spaces (DQLS) standards on internal environment learning spaces design. Guidelines have been developed by the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) for boards of trustees, principals and teachers to help us understand the importance the internal environment plays in the design of quality learning spaces. Four areas of focus are: acoustics, air quality, heat, temperature and insulation, and lighting

Procurement
The MOE would like to start procurement of technical services to get master planning underway as soon as possible. It takes about a month to get a master planner signed up. The MOE has a panel of 8 master planners (for major works) who are the best educational planners in Australasia. From this panel the MOE will short-list three.

The MOE will come back to us next week with more information on the procurement process. The Board will appoint a member who will be the main Board representative and liaison person with the MOE throughout the process.

Other Updates
We are in the process of being connected to ultra fast broadband and anticipate this project to be completed by mid-term 3. This is part of the Ministry’s School Network Upgrade Project (SNUP). The school had been registered for this for several years; it had been on hold following the earthquakes. A letter received from MoE stated we are eligible for SNUP Lite requiring a 20% contribution from the school. This has been approved by the Board of Trustees and included in the 2014 annual budget.

We will continue to keep you up-to-date via the school’s website and other communications.

Ngā mihi,
Tony Boon and Ginnie Warren
On behalf of the Board of Trustees