Selwyn schools revamps to get $100m funding injection, Govt confirms

Thursday, 14 November 2024

Ellesmere College acting principal Antony French says it's exciting the old school will be rebuilt.

Two schools in Selwyn will between them receive more than $100 million to fund their rebuild and expansion plans, the Government has confirmed.

Ellesmere College has been promised almost $55m to redevelop the entire school, five years after it was first proposed.

Plans to transform the 530-student school have already been finalised and construction slated to start early next year, with the three-phase development expected to finish about 2028.

Rolleston College, one of the fastest-growing schools in the country, is also to receive more than $50m for the first stage in the building of a second campus, one which has been largely pared back from what was initially promised.

Roleston College principal Rachel Skelton, pictured in March, looks over the site where the school’s second campus will be built.

The money was earmarked earlier this year and the first stage of the new campus confirmed in June, after the school fought for months against a Ministry of Education decision that saw plans delayed, stripped back and redesigned.

The first stage of the second campus, now cut back to a 24-classroom science, technology, engineering and maths block, a single-court gymnasium and 12 temporary classrooms, is expected to be completed by December 2025, allowing for a roll of approximately 650 students.

Drawings of the plans to redevelop Ellesmere College, which has received $55 million in Government funding.

The college’s principal Rachel Skelton said last week that work had started on the site of the new campus, but that the population growth in Rolleston was so quick that more schools needed to be built immediately.

The Ellesmere and Rolleston school projects are two of 89 nationally that have been given funding for rebuilding or development.

Acting Ellesmere College principal Antony French, pictured in August in front of some of the old buildings which will be replaced in the development of the new school, which it is hoped will be finished by 2028.

Ellesmere College, which serves Leeston and the surrounding communities, was promised a $30m upgrade to its outdated and leaky 44-year-old buildings in 2019 by the Labour government.

Ellesmere College’s $30 million rebuild, announced in 2019, has doubled in cost and will now take another four years to complete.

But delays to the rebuild saw the cost rise soar to nearly $63m in four years.

Leeston’s population is expected to grow by almost 20% over the next decade, from 2600 to 3100 people, according to Selwyn District Council.

Confirming the funding for the two schools on Thursday, Selwyn MP Nicola Grigg said it was “vital” that Selwyn's young people get the best educational opportunities possible, and modern classrooms and facilities are “critical” to that.

“I am so pleased Ellesmere College will be receiving nearly $55 million in total, meaning the project can finally enter construction.

“Equally, as the fastest growing town in New Zealand, investment in schools in Rolleston is imperative. After a nationwide value for money review of school projects commissioned by the previous government, Cabinet has approved over $50m for the construction of a second Rolleston College campus.

“I am pleased to see the Ministry of Education and the school community working constructively on a design for - what will become - one of the most modern, innovative schools in the country.”

Grigg and Education Minister Erica Stanford will meet with the district’s principals later this month.