$111m spend on Christchurch Boys’ High ‘should be standard, not the exception’ for Kiwi schools - headmaster

Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Christchurch Boys’ High School under went $111 million of rebuild and repairs post-quake.

New figures show wide disparities in Christchurch’s school rebuild spending, with one school receiving $111 million — far above the programme average. CATE MACINTOSH reports.

A tour of Christchurch Boys’ High School starts in its museum - a beautifully restored former farm building once owned by Canterbury settlers John and William Deans.

Headmaster Nic Hill is proud of the redevelopment, paid for by the school’s board, saying it shows students their history - and that they deserve quality facilities.

A new art classroom, delivered as part of the Christchurch Boys’ High School rebuild.

“Buildings do matter.”

Another restored building houses the uniform shop, the first stop for new students.

The rest of the campus reflects the $111m Ministry of Education investment through the post-quake Christchurch schools rebuild programme.

The school received a new main teaching and administration block ($60m), a multi-purpose auditorium for its 1400-student roll, a teaching block with breakout spaces, and a science block with labs for every class - instead of one for three.

Data for the 103 Christchurch schools with completed rebuilds shows an average rebuild cost of $12m.

Want to know how much was spent on your school rebuild? Search the table here

Among the 10 high schools, the average was $32m; the 77 primary and full primary schools averaged $8m; the six intermediates $17m.

After Boys’ High, the next most expensive project listed was Te Aratai (formerly Linwood) College, including Kimihia Parents College, at $70m.

Christchurch Boys’ High School headmaster Nic Hill says the redevelopment “is a long-term public investment in facilities that will serve generations of students and support the role of education in strengthening New Zealand”.

Ministry of Education school property chief executive Jerome Sheppard said the $111m spend for Boys’ High reflected the site’s scale, condition and complexity, “not a decision to prioritise one school ahead of others”.

Hill said heritage buildings dating to 1926 and the Avon River site, which required land remediation, drove up costs. He also credited an “ambitious” board for the outcome.

The school still missed out on some upgrades.

Plans for a new gym were dropped - instead two existing gyms, built in the 60s and 70s, were repaired.

The board offered either a new gym or turf courts. Staff chose turf courts, costing about $5m. International student revenue and land depreciation helped fund the work.

Hill said the result was something Christchurch could be proud of.

“All state school students should expect high-quality facilities. That should be the standard, not the exception.”

Christchurch Boys’ High Schoo’s main building renovations maintained heritage features while delivering high quality and functional spaces.

At Te Kōmanawa Rowley School in Hoon Hay, redevelopment funding was just $3.2m. The school serves a community facing significant socio-economic barriers.

Former principal Graeme Norman said he arrived at the school in 2020 to find a major plumbing problem - damaged pipes were causing sewage leaks from the toilet block, despite earthquake repairs having been completed.

“We went back to the ministry and in the end they agreed that they had to do it.”

Oaklands Primary School principal Graeme Norman says earthquake repairs at his former school, Te Kōmanawa Rowley, were shoddy.

The work that had been done was substandard, Norman said.

“They’d just done done an appalling cheap shoddy job.”

Norman said differences in rebuild quality may reflect how strongly schools advocated for themselves.

Norman with Rowley students Aneeqa Biba, 9, left, Hepisipa Tuita, 9, Awatea Rolleston, 9, Hene Moli, 8, Harper Eastwood, 8, and Tau Iopu, 8. Photo taken in 2023.

In the post-earthquake period, Rowley’s principal was managing illness, and high turnover of school leadership followed, Norman said.

“Possibly there wasn’t someone that shouted loud enough…

“When I got there I started shouting loud enough, and I was experienced, so we managed to get some of that property stuff done.”

He said another school he worked at benefited from a board member who was a lawyer and helped secure funding.

“I couldn’t afford to have a lawyer do that [at Rowley], but he did it for free because it was for the school.”

Now at Oaklands School, which had an $11m repair budget, Norman said the contrast was clear.

“You can see $11m worth of work done here and there is some stuff I’m going to have to go to the ministry about, but … [mostly it] was done properly.”

Sheppard said rebuild responses ranged from minor repairs to full rebuilds, depending on damage and value for money.

Schools including Haeata Community Campus, Shirley Boys’ High School, Te Aratai College and Rolleston College were fully or partly rebuilt due to severe damage or growing demand.

Some projects are not included in official totals because they were funded through multiple sources.