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Government reveals $164m for classroom upgrades

New classrooms will be built, and existing rooms upgraded, thanks to $164m of education sector funding announced by the New Zealand Government last week.

<p>North Island schools will receive &dollar;132m&comma; Education Minister Chris Hipkins revealed at Greytown School in Wairarapa&comma; one of the schools included in the funding package&period; He claimed 7500 students would benefit from the improvements&comma; which would also help sustain more than 3000 jobs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Announced on November 19&comma; the funding includes more than &dollar;10m each for both Ormiston Primary School and Kauri Flats Schools&comma; for expansion to create an additional 250 and 350 student places&comma; respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other schools to benefit include Browns Bay School on Auckland’s North Shore &lpar;&dollar;9m&rpar;&comma; Te Horo School in Otaki &lpar;&dollar;1m&rpar;&comma; with &dollar;30 million flagged for 91 short term roll growth classrooms in Auckland&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another &dollar;30 million will be spent on three new schools and expansions in the Bay of Plenty&comma; creating additional places for more than 1&comma;000 students there&period; Two Gisborne schools will each receive &dollar;2&period;5m&comma; &dollar;4 million will be spent at two schools in Waikato&comma; &dollar;4&period;5 million will go to two Tai Tokerau schools and &dollar;25 million is set to create 77 short-term roll growth classrooms at 24 schools across the North Island &lpar;excluding Auckland&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Greytown School&comma; which hosted the announcement&comma; will receive &dollar;6m to replace a 100-year-old five-classroom block&period; Hipkins said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;The Ministry of Education and schools will be engaging with local builders&comma; plumbers&comma; carpenters&comma; roofers&comma; and electricians&comma; who will in turn need to buy products and supplies from local stores&period; I know the school and the wider community has been waiting for this for a long time&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>South Island allocations of &dollar;32m were announced the following day&comma; as part of the government&&num;8217&semi;s National Education Growth Plan and the National School Redevelopment Programme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Heather Barker Vermeer

Heather has worked as a journalist, writer and editor in England and Aotearoa New Zealand for over 20 years. She fell in love with words when she received a 'Speak & Spell' tech toy for Christmas in 1984.

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