New classrooms up and running at Riverview School

Students and teaching staff are making the most of four new, modern classrooms at Kerikeri’s Riverview School.

The new classrooms were ready when teachers and students returned from the Easter break and will be officially opened by local MP Mike Sabin at 4pm tomorrow.

The spacious new rooms are equipped with furniture suitable for a modern learning environment, including lab tables, stools and bean bags, allowing senior students to work individually or collaboratively. The classrooms also feature new carpets, blinds, whiteboards, electronically controlled windows and digital projectors.

“The new classrooms provide students and teaching staff with fresh, modern learning and teaching environments,” the Ministry of Education’s head of education infrastructure services Kim Shannon says.
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The work is part of a nationwide repair programme, under which approximately 1600 buildings at 780 schools have been repaired or rebuilt to date.

“The school has undergone significant repairs to address weather-tightness issues for a number of years, and these classrooms mark the final stage of our repair programme. Everyone was excited about returning to the modernised school after the holidays,” Riverview School principal Ken McLeay says.

“You can really feel the difference when you walk into the new classrooms. As well as being warm and dry, they look great and the acoustics are amazing. The students are buzzing; they love their new learning environment, and they’ve got a renewed energy for their studies.”

The work was managed by the Ministry’s education infrastructure service’s building improvement programme.