POST-PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26868, 22 October 1952, Page 8

POST-PRIMARY SCHOOLS

FUTURE BUILDING PRIORITIES

BOARD TO HAVE TALKS WITH OFFICIALS

Priority to be given to new postprimary schools in Christchurch will be discussed by members of the Christchurch Post-Primary Schools’ Board with Mr J. L. Cameron, senior inspector of post-primary schools, and Messrs K. Oldfield and T. R. Smith, two other officials of the Education Department, in Christchurch on November 11. This was decided at a meeting of the board last evening. “After a digest of information collected by the department has been considered carefully by the board, we shall have to make recommendations as to which schools must have priority,” said the chairman (Mr W. J. Cartwright). “Then it will be necessary to go ahead with whatever new schools we decide upon, to have them ready in time to meet the peak of enrolments which will take place in 1955 and 1956. The matter will be very urgent indeed.” Members of the board will inspect sites for new schools before meeting the representatives of the department. In a report to the board the secretary (Mr P. J. Halligan) said that £13,610 had been spent during the year on new sites or additions to school grounds, and £102,613 had been paid for new buildings. This was a substantial figure for capital expenditure in one centre, and it did not include the new Linwood school. Considerable grants had also been approved for furniture, apparatus, and salaries. A new site of more than 20 acres had been acquired in the area'between Shortland street and Breezes road, and negotiations were proceeding for additional land to complete the block, Mr Halligan said. The site would be used for a school to- serve a district which would be developed considerably within the next few years. Smaller Schools Suggested Attention had been directed to the need for a school on land held in the Shirley area, but little progress had been made in deciding the priority of future schools, said Mr Halligan. It had been suggested that smaller schools which would accommodate up to 500 pupils and which would be placed strategically throughout the suburban areas would be of greater value than a few larger schools situated in the town area.

No further progress had been made with the Cashmere school site, Mr Halligan said. The area had been surveyed and levels taken with a view to the siting of the buildings, but the owners of the two key properties refused to sell except at exorbitant prices, and the land purchase officer had refused to buy at the figures asked.

About seven acres of land had been bought for additions to the Papanui High School site, but much development work would be necessary before it could be incorporated in the school playground, said Mr Halligan. In addition, a small area of additional land had been bought for the Christchurch Girls’ High School. t Mr Halligan also reported that progress was being made with additions to the workshop buildings at the Christchurch West High School.