From the Chair

Kia ora school whanau,

We’ve been delighted to welcome our students back to the new school this term. I hope you were able to drop in earlier this week to look around the Ken Havill Centre for Learning.

We have more new buildings coming on stream over the next few weeks – Gym, Whare Ako and Whare Tapere. There is some work that will take a bit longer such as, conversion of the old library into a café, conversion of S-Block to the music department, as well as car and bike parking.  The timeline is illustrated below.

Right now, everyone involved is paying particular attention to health and safety because there’s some asbestos in our old buildings. Contained asbestos is safe asbestos and, together with the Ministry of Education, we’re confident that Downers and their subcontractor Ward Demolition have robust plans and procedures in place to remove asbestos. We’ve dealt with asbestos removal before, when three buildings were demolished earlier in the project, and it was managed faultlessly. The Ministry has experienced teams on the ground and is providing specialist oversight at every stage.

We all want the best for our tamariki and staff.  Here is a link to the school’s health and safety policy. It’s important to the Board that you are informed and comfortable that this stage is being managed with the utmost care.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Ngā mihi nui
Carol Gunn
Board of Trustees Chair
Western Springs College – Ngā Puna o Waiōrea