PROGRESS SLOW ON HALL

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28446, 28 November 1957, Page 13

PROGRESS SLOW ON HALL

Christchurch West High School The progress of work on the new assembly hall at the Christchurch West High School has been disappointing, according to a report to the Christchurch Postprimary Schools’ Council ' front tiie* 31 chi tec Lb, J. G. Collins and Son. Painters and plasterers had taken longer to get started than had been expected, and the architects had continually urged the contractors to get on with the work as quickly as possible, said the report. The council indicated that it hoped that the hall would be finished by the contract time. Work on the new science block at Chrsitchurch Girls’ High School was much further advanced, said the report. The block was completed, except for the laying of lino., the fitting of bench tops, in the cooking department, and the general cleaning up of the building. The block would be in use next year. Rough plans were received from the Department of Education for a new classroom block at Cashmere High School, to be available for the opening of the 1959 school year. The plan, for a two-storeyed timber building with six classrooms, had been considered by the Cashmere board of governors, which had disagreed with the type of building and the proposed site, said i Mr Duncan Mackay. Any new building should be the same as the others on the site; with a concrete ground floor ahd a wooden first floor. The site proposed would spoil the quadrangle, but there was another site available which would be better from all considerations.

“A building on the proposed site would make the other blocks cold and damp in winter,” said the secretary, Mr P. J. Halligan The alternative site was near the creek, and could not be used for anything else, “not even a basketball court,” he said. “Most Attractive”

“I think Cashmere is by far the most attractive of the new schools, and we should do all we can to keep it attractive,” said Professor G. Jobberrts. The council agreed to support the Cashmere board in opposing the nature and siting of the new block.

The school roll at Linwood High School would be 84d next year, said Mr Halligan. The school had been designed for this, but there was an unequal balance in the forms, as there were only 12 to 15 in each of the sixth forms, compared with the usual number of about 30. The Linwood board had applied for two. prefabricated classroms, to relieve the pressure on the rest of the school, and to avoid using laboratories and cooking rooms as ordinary classrooms.

“We want them as soon as possible,” said Mr K. A. Gough, from the Linwood board. “The heed is really urgent.”

The council transferred the control of two properties near the Christchurch Technical College, in Barbadoes street, to the college board. One of the properties, at 133 Barbadoes street, is needed by the board as a site for a dental clinic.

“Should we begin to look for additional school sites in some parts of outer Christchurch?” said the chairman, Mr W. J. Cartwright. “The expansion in the north-west area, around the airport, is really amazing, particularly in the direction of Greers and Grahams roads.” The council decided to have a meeting with the regional planning officer early in the new year, to discuss future possible sites and the need for further schools. A grant of £l9lO to the Christchurch Girls’ High School for extensions to the kitchen at Acland House, the school hostel, was approved.