Direct approach

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33253, 16 June 1973, Page 1

Direct approach

The Christchurch Girls’ High School Board of Governors yesterday made a direct approach to the Minister of Education (Mr Amos), seeking his support in retaining the Fleming’s mill site for a new school, without the encumbrance of old buildings.

The board said it made its approach because it was “deeply disturbed” about the decision of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust to seek preservation of some of the old buildings on the mill site.

A new Christchurch Girls’ High School was badly needed, the board said. The present two-acre site had a very limited life, and the encroachments made on the site by temporary accommodation had reduced recreational space to less than acceptable minimum requirements.

The board’s statement, the first issued by the board since the controversy over the Fleming’s mill site began a week ago, emphasised that further problems were being caused at the present site of the school since the inauguration of the one-way street system. "There is no room to expand and provide the additional facilities required in relation to modem teaching techniques, spread of courses, and proposed reductions in teacher-pupil ratios,” the board said. "The board feels it is essential that the move to the new site be made as soon as possible, as any further delays can only compound existing difficulties and have a detrimental effect on the progress and development of the school.”