New Community Still Waits For Ministry Decision On More Classrooms

The Ormiston Primary School Board of Trustees continues to wait for Ministry of Education property decisions about the next stage of classroom buildings while children are taught in the staffroom, office spaces, the library and nearly 200 learners are still using classroom space at the neighbouring Junior College. The school, which opened in 2015, has grown from 101 children on Day One to nearly 1000 children this year. The current school buildings have a capacity for 720 learners.

In the coming years, Ormiston will have a population of Dunedin in our suburb. The Board is unable to strategically plan for the future when they don’t know when the next stage of classroom development will be built or how many children it will be able to accommodate. The Board of Trustees has offered to finance the design phase of the project but this offer has been repeatedly rejected by Ministry officials. The only consistent response appears to be commissioning of another demand analysis report that quickly becomes outdated and the community and it’s children start the waiting cycle again.

“We know the growth will continue in our zone, you only need to drive around the streets and see both the housing that is being completed and the areas of land that are being prepared for construction including Ormiston Town Centre which is due for completion early next year”.

The Board and community are looking for assurances from the Ministry of Education about starting the design and build process for the next stage of the school’s classroom development so they can get ready for 2021 and beyond with confidence.

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