Property Update from The Board of Trustees

Please read for an update regarding our ongoing work to the school property, including the driveway, gym and boiler...

School Driveway

The Board asks parents to collect students from Stuart Street rather than entering the school property (unless collecting students with mobility issues or new enrolments on their first few days at school).

As the school community knows, we are awaiting resurfacing of the driveway as part of our driveway and boiler upgrade property projects. Although the Ministry of Education have approved both projects, we continue to await their completion. If you have been up or down the driveway recently, you'll know that the surface has severely degraded. In the interests of preserving it for the school buses while we wait for the project to commence, please collect students from Stuart Street. Thank you in advance for your assistance. 

If you would like to see the plans for the new driveway or boiler, they are available to view at the main office.


Property Update

Our first re-roofing project is now complete, thank you to the students who kept clear of the contractors while they worked and to the staff and students who put up with all the noise! The gym ceiling and electrics are close to completion, we hope to re-open the gym in the coming weeks.

The second stage of the re-roofing which involves the gym and K Block is still in the planning stages.

The Ministry of Education has approved and sourced contractors for the re-surfacing of the driveway and staff car park. This job is soon to commence.

Alongside this project, we have tendered the new boiler project and secured a contract to start the replacement in October/November of this year. This should take about 6 months to complete, so our temporary boiler has been retained for a longer period of time while this work is underway.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister announced two projects to upgrade a number of school facilities nationwide. The Catlins Area School is lucky enough to be involved with both upgrades. The first is a roll based donation to upgrade facilities that are not included in the Ministry of Education property plans. Our donation has been earmarked to resurface our existing sports courts behind the gym. This project will commence as soon as our Property Manager has secured a date with a specialist contractor. This new surface is likely to be a synthetic surface similar to that fitted at the South Otago High School courts. The second project involves bringing all our classrooms and other teaching spaces up to DQLS requirements. This will involve fixing acoustic issues, installing LED lighting, double glazing and further insulation in areas where they are not present.

Once these jobs are completed we expect to upgrade our Junior Block internally. This project is with the architect at present.

We're excited about the ongoing work at the school and look forward to enjoying the upgraded facilities as they become complete.