Education Minister, Erica Stanford, has joined students and staff at Northcross Intermediate School in Browns Bay to open eight new classrooms to meet the school’s significant roll growth.
The opening at Northcross Intermediate follows last week’s celebration of a new six-classroom block at Lincoln Heights School in West Auckland.
“When we came into Government, we inherited a school property system with around 350 projects that couldn’t be delivered within the available funding, and classrooms costing around $1.2 million each. The system wasn’t working, and schools were paying the price,” said Minister Stanford.
“We’ve taken a different approach. By using offsite construction and repeatable designs, we’ve brought the cost of a classroom down to around $650,000, saving more than $330 million. In three years, those savings have been reinvested into new classrooms in more schools.
“That’s what better value for money looks like: getting more classrooms built, making the most of every dollar and getting students into the learning spaces they need sooner.”
From 1 October, school property will move into a dedicated Crown agency, with a clear focus on better value, lower costs and better service for schools, the Minister said.
