Update 28 February

Kia ora koutou.

I hope that you are all safe and well.

Structural engineers visited school this afternoon. To summarise their findings:

• The staffroom, admin, library, resource area, R3 & 4 and Rooms 5-8 will be demolished.
• The Learning Studio is OK, a couple of ceiling panels need to be replaced.
• The hall and Rooms 13-17 are OK but some things need to be done to them before they can be used safely e.g. Doors must work properly. 
• There are other issues that need to be resolved like safety fencing around the condemned blocks, toileting and drinking water.
• We also need to develop a plan that will enable us to cater for all our children given that we will have six classrooms out of action.

I am meeting with the Ministry tomorrow and will keep you updated.

Kia kaha.

Update 27 February - Closed Means Closed

From the Ministry of Education Website, just to clarify:

"All schools and early childhood services in Christchurch City must remain closed until further notice and follow Civil Defence advice about the conditions of the state of emergency.

For schools, closed means boards, principals, staff and students must not enter the buildings and grounds of schools and business in Christchurch City until the Civil Defence orders are amended. This also applies to school properties in Christchurch City that have been inspected by the Ministry of Education. This also applies to schools being used by Civil Defence."

So sorry team - no clean up until we get the all clear from Civil Defence, Structural Engineers etc. STAY AWAY!

Keep safe.

Update 2, 26 February

Kia ora ano.

I have now been invited to a meeting at 10 am on Tuesday at the MOE to discuss what happens next.

I will let you know the outcome of that meeting.

Update 26 February

Kia ora koutou katoa.

I hope that you are all safe and well.

Yesterday a Project Manager from Arrow visited Freeville on behalf of the MOE. His role was to look at the school so that a prioritised list of schools can be developed to be visited by structural engineers. I do not know where we sit on that list. Like our community, the school has no power, water or sewerage. We also have some significant damage particularly to our concrete block buildings as you can see from the photos below.

I'll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Keep safe.

Update 25 February

Kia ora koutou.

I have to report the very sad news that Baxtor Gowland, the 5 month old baby named as a fatality from the quake, is the grandson of one of our teachers, Diane Gowland. We are all devastated by this terrible news and our thoughts and prayers go out to Diane and her family.

Earthquake Update 22 February

Kia ora to you all.

I hope that you and your families are all OK. My thoughts are with all of our Freeville Community.

Thankfully none of our children were hurt physically by today's earthquake. We were able to evacuate the classrooms reasonably quickly and move the children out on to the field. There is no doubt that many of our children were very upset and scared and I have to thank our staff who put their own fears, worries and concerns aside for the children that they were caring for.

Our thanks also to the parents who collected their children as quickly as possible, and remembered to check in with the classroom teachers so that we knew who was going with who. A huge thankyou to those parents who stayed at school for a period of time to comfort children and offer reassurance. The care shown by our adults and by many of the children, both for their peers and the adults around them was very touching. I was very proud of all of our children (and our adults too).

The school itself is a bit of a mess. I should think that the staffroom, admin, library, and rooms 3 - 8 are unoccupiable. The new building and our prefabs (Rooms 13, 14, 15, 16, 17) look okay but with resources scattered throughout.

Please look after yourselves and those around you. I can't see us getting school underway any time soon so listen to the news broadcasts, read the Civil Defence and CCC updates, and we'll do our best to communicate with you as best we can.

Keep safe.

We're Underway

Kia ora koutou

We're well and truly underway for 2011.

Our theme for this year is "The X Factor". This theme gives us a lot of scope to work with the children to develop exciting learning experiences and inquiries in 2011. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this evolves over the year.

Our new Learning Studio looks fantastic and is 95% complete. We are waiting for the site works to be finished and for a few niggles to be sorted on the inside but we're nearly there. We are excited about the learning spaces that have been created and how they support the type of teaching and learning that we are fostering at our school. Please feel free to pop in for a look. We will have an official opening when we have fully completed the project.

One of the initiatives that have been able to take place this year in the Learning Studio is the provision of 'on demand' computing for our Year 7 & 8 students. Essentially every student in Year 7 & 8 has access to their own net book computer. The state of the art wireless and recharging facilities built into the Learning Studio makes this manageable. The net books are certainly adding to the motivation and learning opportunities for our senior students.

What's next? We're never finished! On the plan from now on are the refurbishments needed in Rooms 5-8, revamping of the Dental Clinic (once we have it handed over from the DHB), revamping of the Boiler Room....it doesn't stop! Watch this space.