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Classrooms on hold to cut costs ANNE HARDIE
Māpua School and Motueka High School both miss out on new classrooms in the Government’s cost-cutting measures that has put 100 school building projects
on hold around the country. Māpua School had four new classrooms in the pipeline including replacing two older classrooms, while Motueka High School was planning another four classrooms to cater for a growth in its roll.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education reviewed 352 ministry-led projects that were still at pre-construction stage because the cost to build a classroom had increased significantly in the past few years and it wants to achieve
better cost efficiencies. That review, which will yield about $2 billion of forecast savings, is now completed and Mapua and Motueka are two of the schools with projects that ‘will not proceed at this time’.
At Māpua, principal Sharon Prestidge says it’s disappointing the builds will not go ahead after two years in the planning process, but the school already has alternative
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Mural celebrates Pasifika journey ELISE VOLLWEILER A delicate depiction of early Polynesian navigation now shines from a wall at Motueka Kindergarten. The mural shows the arrival of Polynesian settlers, following the stars to the uninhabited land of Aotearoa. The artist, Pip Richards, says that he wanted it to show the transporting of culture that was then merged into something new. Kindergarten teacher Joeline Jones says that they are undertaking a learning journey about Pasifika, “and so we wanted to incorporate that into our environment”. The mural was inspired by a waiata about the three waka that are significant to the top of the South Island. “Intrepid navigators and skills seafarers, the Polynesians used a sophisticated understanding of the stars
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Artist Pip Richards, together with Harriet, Esteban, Layla, Kahlani, Ameila and Morgan, showcase Motueka Kindergarten’s new mural, depicting the arrival of Polynesian settlers to New Zealand. Photo: Elise Vollweiler.
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