Junior class children and their teacher, Kimberly Sharp, in Mōkau School’s refurbished library.
The Mōkau School’s old dental clinic building has been converted into a library, also providing space for additional study and teaching activities.
Principal Maryann Symonds said the 50-square-metre building had proved its worth as an alternative learning space, study and meeting room.
The dental clinic closed more than 10 years ago, with the school board having seen the building as a wasted resource during much of that period.
“The board worked with the Ministry of Education for several years to do something with the disused building. But the way school property was funded, it did not meet the school’s 10-year property plan priorities until recently,” Maryann said.
“The Ministry of Education introduced the Accelerated Modernisation Scheme and its purpose is to accelerate the modernisation of teaching and learning environments in schools that would otherwise need to be deferred.
“This funding of $45,000 has meant this transformation could go ahead. In the last four years, the roll has risen from just five pupils to the present 27, with two new entrants ready to start soon.
“So, the increased roll made completion of the new library very timely.
“The new space has meant the library books and furniture that were previously taking up space in classrooms, now have a purpose-built home. As a result, there is more teaching and learning space within the classrooms.”
Maryann said the community pitched in when the job was done over the last Christmas holidays.
“While $45,000 is not a lot of money to completely refurbish a building, thanks to our helpers we were able to completely transform the space.”
A dividing wall was removed by Trevor Walshaw, who is a retired builder. Kitchen and toilet facilities were retained, and the building was fitted out with shelving and storage cabinets.
“Trevor even constructed an inlaid table, located in a small break-out room, out of the dental clinic’s original shelving.”
Other members of the community volunteered to gib stop, move books and help clean after construction. Joanne Wackrow, the volunteer librarian, cleaned 10 years of grime off the windows.
“We were really lucky with the amount of voluntary labour we received when the work was done over the holidays,” Maryann said.
“It was typical of this place – our school motto is ‘Together we can do anything’ and that’s exactly how it played out.”
