Update 5 March - Come to School Tuesday Morning

IMPORTANT - You need to come to school from 11 am on Tuesday. 


Hastings Intermediate has fund raised for our school community and have put together 400 packages of water, blankets, hand sanitisers, food, lollies and other items for distribution. This will happen from 11 am on Tuesday. Members of the Hastings Intermediate staff will be in attendance, they are putting on a BBQ and will be distributing the packages. 


Over 3000 food items were donated from the school’s student body alone.  They also had numerous donations from their wider community beyond their school. Major supporters have been Conroy Removals, Hygiene Technologies, R J Liquorice and Watties.  They have also received many items from Taradale Intermediate, St Matthews Primary School, Te Mata Primary School, Hastings Boys High School, CHB Schools and businesses along with several of their local preschools. It is estimated that the total value of items donated is in excess of $50000.

We are very grateful to the Principal of Hastings Intermediate Andrew Shortcliffe, his staff, students and the Hastings community for their generosity and their hard work.


Have a look at their website: http://www.hastingsintermediate.school.nz/uncategorized/christchurch-appeal/

Just add water

Hi all.

As many people will know Grant has been driving over to Freeville with his water tanker every second day since the earthquake. I know that this has been a life saver for many people and we send Grant a huge vote of thanks on behalf of the Freeville community. I came over to school with him today and many people commented that they would rather have water than power, so his contribution has been very important and generous. Thanks also top Rachel and Aroha who have helped Grant on various days.

Grant and I will be back on Sunday morning, so if you are in contact with people in the area around school, or you are there yourself, please come down to school and grab some water. There are a number of bottles left in the car park today, and some wheelie bins filled with water so you can fill a bucket or two.

Let's hope it is not too long before running water is back on.

Update 3 March

Hi all.

The Ministry have republished this morning the following statement:

For schools and ECE services in Christchurch City only

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 I guess the Ministry's request that schools be looked at on a case by case basis to allow for the recovery of resources and furniture has been turned down by Civil Defence. 

They say patience is a virtue.

Update 2 March

He mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.

This morning we had our first Project Team Meeting and I came away very encouraged, both by the people we have involved in our team, and by what was discussed.

Our team is made up of Steve our Property Manager, Paul our AP, Karen Brandon our BOT Chairperson and I from the school; Gill Maher and Rae Karipa from the Ministry of Education, and John Sinclair our Project Manager. I was also very encouraged by the news that ConstructA will be our building firm and that our contact with them is Hamish Hunter who was the foreman on the redevelopment of our junior classrooms. Hamish is an excellent guy and I'm really glad that we will be working with him.

We are moving now to "control the controllables". I say that because some things are, at the moment, out of our control. We can only effect the things that we have some control over. As time progresses issues will move from being "uncontrollable" to "controllable," and we will be able to start work on them.

At present the things we are working on today are:

• Getting our server going so that our website is up and running.
• Getting clearance from Civil Defence to empty our damaged areas of resources and furniture.
• Getting hold of some shipping containers to store resources.
• Booking in some of the student army to help with shifting the resources and furniture.
• Procuring three relocatable classrooms.
• Fencing off the two damaged blocks.
• Addressing immediate dangers e.g. we have pulled down the ball wall which was moving in the wind today!
• Getting the Farmy Army to remove liquefaction around the school.
• Investigating the possibility of a septic tank and pump system for sewage.
• Investigating pumping water from the bore that was used before the school went on to the town supply.

Engineers' Reports etc

So far we have had: 

• A visual inspection from a Project Manager from Arrow. This prioritised us for a structural assessment.
• An initial inspection from two Structural Assessors.
• An assessment from the insurers.

We now need to have:

• A full Structural Engineer's report on the buildings. This will tell us if, as recommended by the two previous inspections, the staffroom to R4 block, and the R5 to R8 block need to be demolished.
• A Geotech report on the structure of the ground. This will tell us if the ground is safe.

When these happens is out of our hands, we just have to wait for them to take place.

I'll keep you updated as further information comes to hand.

Our thoughts, as always are with you and your children. Keep safe.

Keeping the Kids Learning

I know that you will be concerned about keeping your child learning while they are not at school. The Russley School website,  http://russleywebsite-onlinelearning.wikispaces.com/  has some excellent links and resources that you can try.

The Ministry of Education website www.minedu.govt.nz also has useful ideas and tips for children at each level. The site is also updated with schooling information following the earthquake.

Update 1 March

Mauriora.

The eighteen worst affected schools in Christchurch had an initial meeting with the Ministry of Education today to discuss the path towards reopening our schools.

Each of the schools present has now been allocated a Ministry representative to co-ordinate a Project Team that will work towards reopening. We have our first meeting tomorrow morning. As mentioned previously a number of issues need to be ticked off and dealt with before we can get underway. One of the essential things is sewerage; and one of the messages that we were given today was that the Ministry of Health are against the use of port-a-loos in schools. Other options, such as septic tanks and pumps, have to be investigated. This will not happen quickly.

Therefore we can say that school will not be reopening before the 14th of March.

I do want to reassure you that Freeville School WILL be back! We will need to demonstrate, especially in the short term, that we are all Freeville Flyers.  We will need to be adaptable, caring and creative.

Our Project Team will be doing their absolute best to ensure that in the long term, Freeville School will be better than ever. We cannot dwell on what our buildings are like now and what they were like before. Rather we have to look at the damage inflicted on our buildings as an opportunity to build something fantastic, and that's what we will be setting out to do.

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.