Pareawa Banks Avenue School - New School Updates

Photos are taken every 15 minutes on the progress of the build of our new school. Click on the image  to see the latest photo.

22 January 2022

New Names - Pronunciation 
We have some changes happening as we transition to our new site at Pareawa Banks Avenue. Our team structure has changed and we will now have two modules.

​Muringa
Team Tōtara and Team Kahikatea have combined and are now known as Muringa. When we move the two Muringa classes will be called: Kiwakiwa Pod and Poataniwha Pod. 

Pāhake
Team Miro is now known as Pāhake.  When we move the two Pāhake classes will be called: Kōtukutuku Pod and Manakura Pod.

Click on the You Tube link → to hear our Kapa haka Tutor - Matua modelling the correct pronunciation of our new names.

1 December 2021

New Lease of Life for Former High School Gym
The old Shirley Boys’ High School gym, which is being transformed into a community-based sports and recreational centre, opens its doors early next year. The North Parade building became empty when Shirley Boys’ High School moved to a new purpose-built school in New Brighton in May 2019. The school was demolished, leaving only the gym behind.
A new school is being built on the site for Pareawa Banks Avenue Primary School, which will use the sports and recreation centre, along with other local schools. Sports clubs and community groups can hire the venue and outdoor pitches in the evenings. The gym, function centre and artificial turf – collectively known as Avon Hub – will be managed by Eastern Community Sport and Recreation Inc (ECSR).
ECSR Community Sport Manager Kate Latimer says it wants as many community organisations as possible to use the centre. When the gym was part of the school it was used by hockey, basketball, volleyball, futsal, and badminton clubs. She says ECSR is looking forward to welcoming these clubs back and plans to add many other activities.
“We are keen to ensure this valuable local asset, which served the high school over several decades, is retained for community use,” Kate says. “We’ve worked alongside the Ministry of Education and Pareawa Banks Avenue Primary School to keep the facility thriving so we can maximise its use by local people.
“Our philosophy with community facilities is to maximise their use by ensuring as many different groups, organisers and individuals as possible can do something with them. We want to open the doors to everyone in Shirley to make that happen and will welcome ideas from anyone about how we can best make it work for the community.”
The function room is suitable for activities such as dance, martial arts, yoga, and pilates, while other spaces are ideal for other recreation programmes.
With two schools alongside, there are many options for after school and holiday programmes. Offices in the building present the potential to sublet, while a kitchen adjacent to the function room will be useful for social events, so it could easily serve as an ‘after match’ club room for sports teams playing in the gym or on the turf, Kate says.
Catering for the disabled and special needs community is one of its goals, Kate says. Its proximity to the Burwood Spinal Unit means it will be opening its doors to members of this community. Avon Hub will be home to Canterbury Wheelchair Rugby and TIMA, which provides integrated physical opportunities for youth with adapted needs.
Several other local early childhood centres, primary, intermediate, and secondary schools which comprise the Ministry’s Otakaro Kahui Ako cluster will also have access to the facilities.
What is happening on site?
Joinery is going into one of the learning pods next week. The other pods are being stopped and painted. The library roof goes on next week.
The goal is to have the admin and library areas closed in with windows, doors and roof by Christmas. We may see the roof on the hall by Christmas.
Building will stop over the Christmas break and resume again on 10 January. Although there have been delays and shortages we are still hopeful to be moving in during the July holidays 2022. This date will be reviewed in February. We will organise a Community Day in Term 1 2022 so parents and others can have a walk around the site.
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School Uniform
Our school uniform can now be purchased through NZ Uniforms: https://banksavenue.nzuniforms.com/. You will need to go onto their site and set up an account. They do provide an afterpay option. If you need help to do this our lovely office ladies will help you set up an account. Once ordered the uniform items will be delivered to your home address.
We have sample uniforms, in different sizes in the office. Please come and check these out before you order as some uniform sizes seem small and others seem on the large side.
I look forward to seeing our students beginning to wear the new uniform!


Creatives in Schools
Belinda and Stephanie applied for a funding grant that would allow us to have an artist working with us for two terms to create a school wide mural. The intent is to take this mural with us to our new school as a taonga, something special.
We are thrilled that we have been successful and that this art project will begin in Term 1 next year. A very big thank you to Stephanie Taylor and Belinda Walsh for working hard to make this project come to life!

19 November 2021

There was much anticipation, today,  as the staff at Banks Ave walked onto our new school site to see the progress that has been made on our new school build. Staff members have not been on site before so there was a buzz of excitement as they walked through our new hall, the classroom pods and the staffroom. For some areas of the school, the rooms were in the initial stages of build, so it took some figuring out to see which rooms were which. Staff could be heard singing, you guessed it 'Celebrate Good Times'. After such a long wait, the move is getting closer!
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10 November 2021

Progress continues - there is now lots happening inside the learning pods with gibbing and painting. Although we can’t open it up to the public at Level 2, we will be able to take staff down to the site next week so they can see progress.

School Orchard 
Today I had a chat with an organisation who will help us set up an orchard at our new school! How fabulous would this be?

School Uniform

Our school uniform can now be purchased through NZ Uniforms: https://banksavenue.nzuniforms.com/. You will need to go onto their website and set up an account. They do provide an afterpay option. If you need help to do this our lovely office ladies will help you set up an account. Once ordered, the uniform items will be delivered to your home address.
We have a rack of samples in the office foyer so you can check for sizing.
I look forward to seeing our students beginning to wear the new uniform!
Here we have Rylan dressed in the new uniform as he is having his scholarship picture taken for Chisnallwood. I love seeing all the school badges displayed on children’s uniforms.

3 November 2021

New School Uniform
Our new school uniform can now be purchased through NZ Uniforms: https://banksavenue.nzuniforms.com/. You will need to go onto their site and set up an account. They do provide an afterpay option. If you need help to do this our lovely office ladies will help you set up an account. Once ordered the uniform items will be delivered to your home address.Thanks to Mason, Sophia, Sarah, Hunter and Lily for helping us model the new uniform. They look fabulous don’t they! We have samples in the office area that can be used to check sizing.

28 October 2021

The Build
  • The school car park has been laid out; it will be asphalted next week. You can see the concrete kerbing.
  • One of the pods is now being painted on the inside!
  • The roof is due to go on the last pod and the admin building in the next week.
  • The green building  is the last learning pod; this will house our New Entrants and Year 1 students next year.​
​Site Visit
  • Sadly, because of Covid restrictions we can not schedule a community visit, but staff are going to be able to have a look at their new learning spaces on Friday 19 November. It will be so exciting for them to be able to stand in the new school and imagine teaching in the new environment.​
School Uniform
  • Our school uniform can now be purchased through NZ Uniforms: https://banksavenue.nzuniforms.com/. You will need to go onto their site and set up an account. They do provide an afterpay option. If you need help to do this our lovely office ladies will help you set up an account. Once ordered the uniform items will be delivered to your home address. I look forward to seeing our students beginning to wear the new uniform!
Kapa Haka Uniform
  • Below are the three options we have for our new Kapa haka uniforms. Shortly we will be asking parents for their views on the one they like best.

29 September 2021

Yesterday Colleen and I got the chance to visit the site. Wow! Our hall looks huge! We’ll have no problem fitting all 400 children in, plus their parents, for assemblies. 
  • All buildings are now ‘out of the ground” - past the foundation stage. This means you can walk in and through them to get a sense of space and layout.
  • One of the learning pods has the interior gib going up.
  • The hall is huge!
  • Inside each pod is a ‘stem area’. This joins the two sides of each pod together and will allow things like art, science and pod hui’s to take place. These stem areas are much larger than I realised.​
  • Each pod has a large sliding front door, side doors to the undercover areas and a back door. Plenty of natural light in each learning area.
  • Between pods is a roofed area; this is where bags will go. Again I was surprised how wide this area was - big enough to park two cars side by side. This will be a real bonus on wet days as children will be able to play outside, undercover.
Below is an image of the back wall of our new hall. Do you like the Poutama pattern?
  • The Poutama (stairway to heaven) pattern is found in Māori weaving and plaiting. Poutama has significant spiritual and educational meanings. The stepped pattern symbolises levels of attainment and advancement and the growth of man, striving ever upwards and for betterment. In this case it represents our school value of excellence: better than before.

22 September 2021

The roofs are going on!  In the picture you can see the two learning pods, in the far distance, now have their roofs on.  The hall steel frame is in place and the concrete foundation for the fourth and last learning pod has been poured.  Great progress!

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Concrete Signage for New School
Below is a picture of what the  main sign for our new school will look like.  As you can see it will be cast in concrete.

15 September 2021

Even though the weather is not the best, work continues on Pareawa Banks Avenue. In the distance you can see the steel frame is in place for our school hall. How many people will we be able to fit into our school hall on our open day?

Open Day
We are waiting to drop back down to Alert Level 1 before we reschedule our open day.

School UniformWe are on track to be launching our new uniform in Term 4. At the moment NZ Uniforms are setting up the online webshop. Uniforms will be able to be purchased through this and delivered directly to homes.

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What might our new rooms look like?
 Click on the image below to see a 3D render of our new learning pods. You can move the cursor around to get a bird's eye view or you can enter the rooms for a closer look.

1 September 2021

I am thrilled that our build will be able to continue as of today, at Alert Level 3. Once we have rescheduled our open morning I will let you know!
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23 August 2021

As you can see it is very quiet at Pareawa Banks Avenue school. The builders tell us that they will be able to return to work at level three however time in lockdown is likely to impact on our final move in date.
  • Our open morning will be postponed; we will let you know the new date once it is confirmed.
  • The concrete slab has now been poured for the library and admin building. 
  • All of the soil mounds  you can see are the beginning of the site works. They have been digging out the car park and  preparing to lay shingle before putting the top soil back on.
  • One of the learning pods is just about ready to be fully enclosed which will allow the internal fit-outing to begin.

18 August 2021

Funding Application
We are putting in a funding application to help pay for outdoor seats and tables for the new school.

School Mural
We have applied for a funding application to employ a professional artist to create a school wide art piece that will be made here but taken and installed in our new school. 
On your right, is a visual interpretation by two students showing what this art could look like and below is the design brief our  professional artist will be working with.
When you look at the design that the children have settled on you will see that its shape represents a river, awa.  Our artist will work with each and every child in our school along with all staff creating individual ceramic tiles that represent them and their culture.  At Banks Avenue we celebrate the diversity within our school and have created many opportunities to share this richness of culture with each other.  We envisage getting the whānau of the junior class involved in a practical way in the classroom and as a tuakana teina (older children helping younger children) project our Year 6 students will also help in the junior school.  These tiles will be mounted on a 9 metre board that is shaped like a river.  The tiles that run along the entire edge of each side of the river represent the tangata whēnua who will guide us along this journey; these tiles will be made by students selected for an art extension group across the Year 3-6 learning bases.  We will also include past Year 6 students' names on tiles:  these students were to have been part of the new school, they had input into its design but with build delays they missed this opportunity and for this reason we want to include them.
The planting at the base of the installation is a part of the vision as it will represent the native plants that thrive along the banks of the river and would have covered the local land before it was developed - we see this as a small step toward giving back to the land. 

The collaborative approach taken in the creation of this Art Piece will not end there as we also plan to create a book with the story of each person's tile in it. We feel that this along with our art will become a tāonga in the future.

Signage
Our new signage has arrived.  We will mount this on the fenceline of the new school.  Thanks Todd, from Dynamite Signs,  for dropping this off to us.
  
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RSVP - Sausage Sizzle
On Saturday 4 September from 11:00am-1:00pm, all whānau and community members are invited to come down to our new school to have a look around.  Access to the site is off Averill Street.  There will be a free sausage sizzle.   To help with numbers for the sausage sizzle can you please click on the button below to complete the form online.  This will help us to order the right number of sausages!  There will also be some competitions running on the day.  We are so excited that people will finally get the chance to see the beginnings of our fabulous new school.
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11 August 2021

Progress continues on the learning pods and the hall. It’s amazing how much water we have on the site. I hope the drainage is sorted before we move in!

School Name
A reminder that our school name, Pareawa, was gifted to us by Ngāi Tūāhuriri. Pareawa means adorn the banks of the river.

Window Manifestations
Each learning pod has been given a name linked to our cultural narrative; these are names of plants that would traditionally adorn the banks of the Otakaro (Avon) River. Craig Burton, our branding person, has made a visual manifestation of each of these plants which we will use on the doors and the windows of spaces in our school. What do you think? I think they are beautiful and am looking forward to seeing them become a part of our beautiful new school.

Open Day - Saturday 4 September
Hawkins have kindly offered to run an Open Day on our new site; this will allow children, staff, whānau and community members the opportunity to visit the new school and see the progress first hand.
Hawkins will put on a barbecue lunch for us. Later we will be asking parents to confirm numbers for the day. The sausages will be free.
The PTA will also be running a photo fundraising activity on the day. We will have some props available (and hopefully a digger to climb into) and a photographer on hand to take commemorative snaps. These will be sold as a fundraising activity.
Hall
I am continuing to work with different companies looking at options for hall lighting and sound.

Class Furniture
Tracey, Tricia and myself are visiting a local school to look at some modern classroom furniture layouts.

School Uniform Update
Our goal is to phase out our old uniform over 2021 and 2022 and ultimately have Year 1-5 in our new uniform for the start of the 2023 school year. The push from Term 4 this year will be to begin to transition into the new uniform. The BOT have gone with a web based sales model. This means that: 
  • NZ Uniforms will set up a web based shop accessible through our school website. No retail purchase option will be available.
  • The web based model is a cheaper option for parents.
  • Also the NZ Uniform retail shop is based in Sockburn so accessing it would be a barrier for many.
  • ​Our office ladies will be able to help those parents without access to technology to order online.
  • ​We will have samples of uniform items, in different sizes, available at school; however, all purchases will be made through the web shop.
  • Uniform items will be delivered straight to parents homes.
  • ​A delivery fee of approximately $7 will be charged by NZ Uniforms.
  • No school name, Pareawa Banks Avenue School, will appear on uniform items until July 2022. The BOT are adamant that the new name for our school will not be used until we are officially onsite hence this decision.
  • Sweatshirts and polos will be printed with the school HEART logo until July 2022, after July 2022 sweatshirts and polos will have the HEART logo and the new school name.
Next Steps
  • NZ Uniforms will set up our BAS uniform webshop. This will be done in the next few weeks. We will set up a display of sample uniform items, in differing sizes, that parents can access to check sizes.
  • We will offer some after school viewing times for parents to be able to do this.
  • From Term 4 2021 parents will be able to order new uniform items on our website through the NZ Uniforms portal.

Note
  • For the next eighteen months it is acceptable if children wear a mixture of the old and the new uniform.
  •  If you have any old uniform items you would like to donate to the uniform shop it would be appreciated as this will help us through this transition period.​

28 July 2021

Interior Designer or Upholsterer
We are in the process of looking at the features of our staff room in the new school.  We would like to have a cafe feel to our staffroom, somewhere staff can relax and chill. 

Do we have any interior designers in our school community who would like to come and work with us to develop a cool concept plan for this space?
We also have some furniture we need re-upholstered; can anyone help?
If so please email principal@banksave.school.nz or call in to the admin area to chat with me.

What has been happening on site?
On Tuesday I had a meeting onsite and an update on progress. 
  • Learning pod 4 is the one you can see on the webcam.  This is the most advanced of the buildings.  They will get the windows attached this week and the roof will be finished in two weeks.  At that stage the pod will be secure.
  • Pod 3 has not started - this will be the last building to have the foundations laid.
  • Pod 2 has the timber framing up and the roof is also due to be on in two weeks.
  • Pod 1 has the steel framing in place.
  • H = Hall.  The concrete foundations and floor are being poured this week. 
L = Library and A = administration building.  These two buildings will have foundations boxed in the next week.

Open Day - Saturday 4 September 11:00am - 1:00pm 
Hawkins have kindly offered to run an Open Day on our new site; this will allow children, staff, whanau and community members the opportunity to visit the new school and see the progress first hand.
Hawkins will put on a barbecue lunch for us.  Later we will be asking parents to confirm numbers for the day.  The sausages will be free.
The PTA will also be running a photo fundraising activity on the day.  We will have some props available (and hopefully a digger to climb into) and a photographer on hand to take a commemorative snap.  These will be sold as a fundraising activity.

Uniform
The BOT will meet on Thursday night to finalise the option for selling our new uniform.  Once this is done we can move ahead with our uniform transition plan.  We have a sample of our new polar fleece in the office to view.
We are also working through an option for kapa haka uniforms at the moment.  We hope to get a funding grant to help pay for these.

7 July 2021

It is great to see the steel work is up on a second learning pod. This pod will house 100 of our year 5 and 6 pupils.
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Whiteware
Last week I spent a considerable amount of time finalising our whiteware schedule for the new school. We have thirty-eight items to purchase! Every learning pod will have fridges, ovens and microwaves. Yay, that means teachers will be able to heat up noodles etc. on cold winter days.

Hall Lighting
We are looking forward to having a hall at our new school; this will allow us to do school wide and team performances. This week I have been liaising with lighting specialists to ensure we get the right infrastructure in our hall to give us good lighting options for our productions.

29 June 2021

The structure you see below is  learning pod 3; this will house our new entrants next year. Next week the builders  will lay the foundation for pod 2.  Altogether there will be four identical learning pods. Each pod will have about 100 children in them.


Countdown to Pareawa Banks Avenue - how long before we are in our new school?
  • Celebration Evenings: One more in November 
  • Discos: Two more discos (one this year and one next year)
  • Reports: Three more reports sent home ( two in 2021 and one in 2022).
  • End of Terms: Five more terms 
  • Assemblies: Thirteen more assemblies in our library
  • Architect meetings: Fifteen more meetings with the architects and builders
  • School weeks: Forty-one school weeks
  • School leavers: Sixty-five year six students will leave us before we are in the new school
  • Grey hairs and moans of frustration: Many!

Revised date
Our due date for moving into our new school has been pushed out to 22 July. This is at the beginning of term 3 2022. Previously it was 1 July 2022.

Architects meeting
Once a month we meet with the builders, the MOE and the architects. At yesterday’s meeting we discussed:
  • Asbestos had been found in the ground; they are hoping  recent testing shows the grounds are now clear of asbestos. If not we can expect further delays.
  • Cables for water, mains and Orion have been laid.
  • Community walkaround on site likely  to be early August.
  • Placement of our new playgrounds was finalised.
  • Pods
    • Pod 3 has steel work up - wooden timber in this week.
    • Pod 2 to be poured next week with steelwork the following week
By late July the hall, admin and library foundations should be poured.

​Staff Room
Below we have an image of our new staffroom. This will be located in the admin building, beside the library.​


​Uniform
We have had two fleeces  made  so we can see what our new logo looks like.  We think the dark green lettering for the name needs to stand out more. We have asked to have fleeces made  with lime green lettering and with white lettering. We want to make sure we have it right before we confirm our final uniform choices. Thanks Adair and Neela for being my models!
We hope to begin implementing the transition to a new  uniform sometime in term 3! We  will roll the introduction   of our new uniform out  over a two year period. Today I have been working on a funding application as we are hoping to be able to gift all children one polo top when we move to our new school. This would give everyone a sense of belonging from day 1.

23 June 2021

Library
This week Tricia and I met with Matt, our architect to discuss our library.  One wall will have a mural on it.  Matt has shared some potential concepts for the library below.

​Learning Pod
Below is a mock up of what the inside of a learning pod will look like.  As you can see the space will accommodate two teachers and about 50 children.

16 June 2021

Uniform Mock up
Here is a picture of our new logo on our new uniform top.  It looks great doesn’t it?  I am hoping to have a sample on display in the office next week.

Playgrounds
Our playground team is in the final stages of confirming the design for our new playgrounds.  Below you will see the design of our junior and senior playgrounds. There will also be a swing set in the senior play area.  There will be a third play area with the large concord net.

Display Box
I have updated the display cabinet at the end of Room 15.  Here you will be able to see updates about Pareawa Banks Avenue School.

Window Manifestations
We currently have Craig Burton, the designer who created our new logo, 
working on a manifestation (pattern) which we will be able to use in a number of different ways:  on windows and sports gear, on our website and as signage around the school.  I look forward to his ideas as he is very creative!!

 Architect Meeting
This week I am meeting with the architects to discuss joinery, splashbacks and paint colours for our interiors.  It is very exciting as we get to this stage of the design process.
 
Art Project
Two teachers are working together on an art project that will be completed here by students but then taken over to our new school.
 
Ferndale School Update
Ferndale School is a specialist day school that has a base school and five satellite classes in mainstream schools across the city.  Ferndale School has its own principal, staff and board of trustees providing a specialised learning environment for students with complex learning needs.
We will be working with Ferndale School as they plan to relocate their small base school from Merivale Lane to new purpose-built premises on part of the site between our new school and Shirley Intermediate.
In preparation for their relocation the Ministry of Education will be working closely with Banks Avenue, Shirley Intermediate and Ferndale School to master-plan how this specialist facility can be co-located on the large site.  As well as location, master planning will determine such things as entrances and spaces completely independent from each other.
Our new school, Shirley Intermediate’s completely redeveloped school, and Ferndale’s new base school will be wonderful facilities and we are all delighted to be providing education opportunities for more than one school community.
We welcome this wonderful opportunity with Ferndale School and will continue to provide regular updates and share plans with you as they are developed.

9 June 2021

Hall Pattern
At the end of our hall we will have a stage area.  We also have three large wall panels where we need a  design / pattern.  In the picture below is a potential mock-up of what this may look like.  Helen has responsibility for cultural initiatives across our school so she will be heading the design team for this feature.

Artwork
We have two teachers who are going to lead the way forward with a school art project.  What we want to do is to have a group of children work with a local artist on a piece of art that can be created here but then taken over to our new school as part of our move. 

He māhi nā o tātou tūpuna hei pūpuri mō a tātou uri whakatupu
A craft of our ancestors to keep for coming generations

2 June 2021

Uniform
Currently our Board are looking at the contract we have been offered from NZ uniforms.  We have a representative from NZ Uniforms coming to our next board meeting.  We will keep you informed about when we will be able to begin introducing our new uniform.

Countdown to Pareawa Banks Avenue - how long before we are in our new school?
  • Seasons: One more summer
  • Disco’s:  Two more discos (one this year and one next year)
  • End of Terms:  Five more terms 
  • Assemblies:  Fourteen more assemblies in our library
  • School weeks: Forty-five school weeks

School Branding
At the Board meeting last week we ratified our new school logo/brand.  Below you can see how our logo will look on the main wall of our entrance.  You can also see what the logo will look like on our new uniforms.  Thanks Craig Burton for an amazing design!
We are now waiting for Craig to create the jpeg (picture) files for the logo.


​Logo Explanation
Pareawa Banks Avenue School is a caring, friendly school with a BIG heart.  Our motto is Living and Learning with Heart. Our school was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake; even though we were severely tested, our heart got our community and our school through those difficult times.

Ten years on and our school prepares for the next phase of our journey as we embark on an exciting new building project  to be completed in 2022.  A new logo has been created with the aim of honouring the past while reflecting a change in name as well as a new cultural narrative helping to guide our pathway forward.

Our new Māori name ‘Pareawa’ means “adorning the banks of the river”.  The heart from our current logo, which is static, is now a plant-like shape which is living, growing and thriving.  In reference to the cultural narrative the shape refers to the native flora adorning the banks of the Ōtākaro river.  This acts as a metaphor for the adornment of mātauranga (knowledge) that the learner receives at Pareawa Banks Avenue School.  It is a playful like shape referencing the children of chief Otautahi using the Ōtākaro bank as the main area to play on.  In the same way children at Pareawa Banks Avenue  School will learn through the activity of play.

The five small unfurling korus still refer to our five HEART values.  The two larger koru refer to staff and students embracing our values.  The slightly higher koru symbolises our staff caring for and nurturing our tamariki - the lower koru.

There are three wave shapes.  The darker green shape represents the river bank.  It symbolises the connection our school has to our new school site.  The heart is shown just below its surface, its roots firmly in place.  It is from here and this community that our school gets its (nutrients) support, in order to flourish.  The blue shape represents the river as the source of  knowledge and sustenance.  The Ōtākaro river provides another connection point for our community.  The light green shape is the other bank of the river.  It refers to what has gone before and the connection between the old and the new.

26 May 2021

Meeting on site
It was very exciting to have our monthly meeting onsite!  We had some site-safe training then had a look around. 
  • Asbestos problem has been sorted enough so the build has been able to continue. 
  • Expected finish date for the build is 1 July 2022.​​
School Hall
This week I have had a meeting with a company that provides retractable seating (left hand picture) and staging that can be dropped from a storage cupboard when it is needed (right hand picture).  It is so exciting to be looking at these products and imagine them being used by our tamariki for school productions and community events!
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Colours
On Monday Tricia and  I met with an architect to confirm colours of carpets and linos in each pod area and in the library and admin buildings.  Each pod will have a key accent colour outside (see row below) which will carry through inside to splashes of colour.  The main carpet colour in all pods will be a dark grey fleck tile, however the carpet squares below show the splash of colour that will be brought into each pod.
Community Access to the Site
In about eight weeks time Hawkins Construction will open the site on a Saturday morning so our staff and school community will be able to have a look around and see the progress that is being made.  I will keep you informed and share dates once I have a firm date for this open morning.

19 May 2021

Delays
  • Slight delays have occurred due to some asbestos being found in the ground.
  • Our next scheduled meeting with the MOE and builders occurs next week.
  • Ferndale Base School, which is currently located in Merivale Lane, is going to be rebuilt on the land between our new school and Shirley Intermediate.  They are at the early stages of planning their school and it is expected to be completed in 2024.

12 May 2021

Below is a mockup of the entry to Pareawa Banks Avenue School.  What do you think of the colour scheme? NOTE the logo is yet to be confirmed.

5 May 2021

Uniform
  • We are still waiting for our new logo to be approved by the BoT.  Once this is done we will be able to move to our uniform implementation plan.  Our next BoT meeting is the end of May so we hope to have a decision then.

School Colours
  • Each of our four learning pods will have a different accent colour.  See the pictures below. 
  • Today we are meeting with the architects to decide on the colours for the hall, library and admin areas.​​
Playground
  • Our playground team has been busy.  They had a very productive meeting yesterday with a playground supply company.  They are hoping to finalise ideas by mid year.
  • We have two playground areas planned, but we are hoping we can add a third area which will have a large pole net like the picture.

28 March 2021

School Uniform
  • As the board is still finalising our final brand/logo there will be a slight delay to our new uniform implementation plan.
  • Once the logo is finalised - likely to be at our April BOT meeting, we will be able to get mock-ups of the new uniform made to go on display.
  • Ideally early-mid Term 2, uniform items should be able to be purchased from  NZ Uniforms so we can begin our transition process.
  • For students who are due to begin school in Term 2 there are some things to consider:
    • Our winter pinafore remains part of our uniform.  This can be purchased from The Warehouse.
    • You have the option to buy our current uniform as it is still going to be in place for the next seven terms, however, you may like to buy minimal items and wait for us to launch our new uniform sometime in Term 2.


Construction
​This week Hawkins have moved their portacoms on-site and they are connecting up services. 
  • On Tuesday 30 March the building of our new school will officially begin! To start with there will be lots of diggers moving soil around getting ready to pour the foundations.
  • Cameras are being installed that will capture the journey of the rebuild as a time lapse video.
  • Each month we have planning sessions with the Ministry, the designers and the builders.  From next month, these meetings will occur onsite.
  • The date for completion is still scheduled to be 1 July 2022.
  • Hawkins are very keen to work with us as a community.  There will be opportunities for their Project Managers to come and talk to our students about the build as it progresses.  We are also hoping to get some school artwork up on the surrounding fences.

7 March 2021

We continued to work and plan with the MOE. We signed off the master plan and went into detailed design.
  • We were allocated our FF&E budget.
  • There were issues over us maintaining the use of the old SBHS gymnasium.  These were worked through and resolved.
  • Four internal strategic teams were established to prepare for the new school:
Uniform
  • Community consultation
Cycle track
  • Visits to other schools
Resourcing 
  • Sorting and getting rid of resources
Playground
  • Visits to other schools
  • The new school name was ratified.

25 February 2021 - Sod Turning Ceremony

25 February 2021
Click here for the news article.
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Feb 2021: School Uniform

It is Banks Avenue's Policy that all students wear a school uniform. Our uniform is based around a colour code of navy with bottle green. Samples are on display in the school office and are for sale at The Warehouse at Eastgate Mall, 20 Buckleys Road, phone  389 2004.

​New School Uniform
Last year, after consultation with our community, we decided on a new school uniform.  This uniform will be available from Direct Uniforms.  Once our logo is confirmed we will be able to begin transitioning to it.  Our aim is to have our whole school in the new uniform for the beginning of the 2023 school year.  For the next 7 terms (beginning in term 2) we will have a mish mash of the old and the new uniform.  We are hoping, before the end of this term, to get some monogrammed uniform samples to display in our office area.  More details on how and where our new uniform can be purchased will come out later.  In the meantime, we reiterate that our current uniform will be able to continue to be worn until the end of 2022.

We have begun a frequently asked question sheet to help give some clarity to our process.  If you have any questions or queries you would like answered, then please contact me via email:  tburnside@banksave.school.nz or call in to the office to see me. 

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February 2021: Pareawa Banks Avenue School Update

As a new school year begins we are much closer to moving into our new school.

Key Dates for 2021
  • February 22- Sod Turning Ceremony
  • March 30 - PBAS build begins
Key Dates for 2022
  • June 2022 Build finishes
  • July holidays - move to new site
  • July 18 official opening Pareawa Banks Avenue School

Sod Turning - Thursday 25 February
Programme for Sod Turning Ceremony
  • 7:20 am    Assemble on path in Averil Street
  • 7:30 am    Follow kaumatua onto school site
  • 7:35 am    Brief explanation of sod turning ceremony
  • 7:40 am    Blessing  and sod turning - led by Ngāi Tūāhuriri 
                                     Rylan O’D., Holly S.,  Ollie B., and Liam S.  to turn sod
  • 7:45 am    Speeches Toni and Kirk. Potentially MOE
  • 7:50 am    Photo opportunity
  • 7:55 am    Conclude waiata and karakia 
  • 8:00 am     All guests invited back to Banks Avenue School for morning tea

School Name
We  are thankful to Ngai Tuahuriri for gifting us  Pareawa, the name for our new school. Pareawa means ‘adorn the banks of the river’ and it refers to the plants that would have been found along the banks of the Otakaro (Avon) River. The learning hubs in our new school  will be named after these plants.

The Board of Trustees made the decision to keep both the new name and our current name as we move forward; therefore once we move into our new school  we will be known as: 

Pareawa
Banks Avenue School

Cultural Narrative
There is a link on this page that explains our cultural narrative; this is worth watching to understand the importance of our new site and of our local area.

Gymnasium
The existing Shirley Boys Gymnasium, the Spartan Room and the all season hockey turf have been passed to our Board of Trustees , from the Ministry of Education, for us to manage. We are excited as these are valuable community resources that as a school we will get to benefit from.

Strategic Teams
In preparation for our move to the new school next year we have a number of teachers working in teams to prepare our way forward.
Bike track: We would like to establish a community bike track around the perimeter of PBAS so this team is planning for that to occur.

Playground: We will be putting in two new playgrounds at PBAS; this team is looking at design options. We have been given $270 000 to help with the cost of this project.

Resources: Moving schools means clearing out a number of resources from this site as well as thinking about what we need to purchase for the new school.
Once we move out we intend to have a small group of teachers /parents strip the school of everything that has value here  so we can help fund our playground areas at PBAS.

Uniform: We are moving quickly with our uniform change. Shortly we will have a sample uniform on display in the office. There will also be another round of consultation. Once we have finalised the uniform we begin a two year period to allow us to phase out the old uniform and phase in the new uniform. 

Branding
With the name change comes some  logo design alterations We have contracted an agency to work with us on these changes. Our HEART will remain central to our branding regardless of any changes that are made. 

Other
Oscar: we have been working with Oscar and the MOE to consider implications for after school care once we move. Oscar will keep their parent community updated as progress is made.
Resource Teacher of Literacy: We are lucky the RTLit’s will have a home base at our new school.
Ferndale School is a school for children with needs. It is planned for them to build a school on the land between PBAS and Shirley Intermediate.
Planning meetings with the MOE continue every month. Hawkins has been appointed as our lead contractor.



3 August 2020  -  Our School Name

The Board's preferred new name for our school is PAREAWA BANKS AVENUE SCHOOL. 

We now present you with the following question: Do you agree with the boards preferred new name of PAREAWA BANKS AVENUE SCHOOL?

Please complete the survey and give it serious consideration as this will be THE FINAL COMMUNITY CONSULTATION before the board makes it’s final decision.

THIS IS YOUR MOMENT TO HAVE YOUR SAY!

Click on the button below to access the survey.
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27 November 2019 - Our School Name

As part of the rebuild process we have had a cultural narrative completed by Ngāi Tahu and a potential new name, Pareawa, gifted to us by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tūāhuriri. Pareawa means 'adorn the banks of the river'. In this case to adorn the banks of the Ōtākaro River (Avon river) as the river is a significant landscape feature near our current school and also near our new site. It can also be used as a metaphor reflecting a school adorns tamariki with the skills, knowledge and dispositions they will need and use in life. The Board of Trustees are seeking input from whanau, staff, pupils and community members on our school name. This consultation will take place this year allowing a decision to be made about the school name in 2020. On Thursday evening, at our Celebration Event , we will be canvassing parents, asking for you to fill in a short survey giving your preference for the school name. Children carrying out the survey will be wearing high vis vests. Parents will also be able to complete this survey on our school website. We will share a link to the survey on Facebook. In order to explain the significance of a cultural narrative we have created and posted a digital story on our website. This story gives insight to our cultural narrative and may help you to make a decision. Well done Helen and Emma for creating this artifact.
On the survey you will see there are three names for you to choose from. We ask that your order your preference; 1 the most favourable to 3 the least favourable.
The possible names are:
  • Banks Avenue Pareawa School ( BAPS )
  • Pareawa School (PS )
  • Pareawa Banks Avenue School (PBAS)
Click the button below to ​access the survey.
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An update: 27 November 2019

We continue to have monthly meetings with the Ministry of Education and Opus, our architects; we are currently at the detailed design stage.
The Ministry have not yet assigned the demolition contract and they have not tendered for the build contract. These delays mean the actual build will be
delayed. We are expecting the demolition of the old school to occur at the beginning of 2020. At that stage there will be site preparation as a significant
amount of soil is being brought in to lift the school. Our new school should begin to be built in June 2020 with a finish date of mid
2021. 

Monthly Update: 21 November 2019

September 2019

It is with great delight that we announce the name for our school that we have been gifted by Mana Whenua and the local rūnanga Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri, based at Tuahiwi. The name that we have been gifted is Pareawa, which means adorning the banks. The naming process has not been undertaken lightly nor without great consideration. Our Board of Trustees have been part of the conversation and was humbled by the gifting of this name to us, which reflects the school, its position in the community and relationship to the land. We will be consulting with you and our local community about the new name and how we can best utilise it as we transition to our new site. Watch this space!

April 2019

 Click on the button below to check out one of our Teaching Pods - A computer generated model
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March 2019 - School Build Update

23 January 2019 - Preliminary Design Photos

5 December 2018

On Monday afternoon we held a community session about our new school. Our architects from Opus shared plans for the hall, the library, the administration area and the learning hubs. They also shared some landscaping ideas. I will put a small display on the windows of the library for parents to look at on Thursday evening. What thoughts have you got about our grounds and our playground areas? Below are some of our thoughts. If you have any other ideas email me principal@banksave.school.nz
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Landscaping and Playground Ideas - What do we want?

What do we want?
  • ​ Sandpit area
  • Hills and mounds - on the mound a slide that curves down, tunnel that goes under and pops out
  • Outdoor Amphitheatre
  • Orchard
  • Vege Garden/nursery to grow from seed
  • Used parts play area (e.g., tyres, tarps, planks etc.)
  • Sheltered eating areas
  • Playground zones -adventure area, discovery area, peaceful reflection area, sheltered area where children can work, small enclosed calm down zone - water feature
  • Sensory Garden: Lavender (relaxation), Peppermint (awaken for learning) different textured plants (lambs ears - soft…)
  • Scooter and /or bike track
  • Climbing ropes that children can climb with knots in
  • Interchangeable boxes
  • Portable seating planks
  • Outdoor game spaces - large chess/naughts and crosses etc.
  • Designated quiet areas with outside seating
  • Permanent volleyboard/rebound wall/paint targets on it
  • Permanent feature of hockey goals
  • Climbing wall with knuckles to hold onto
What can we take with us?
  • ​The whare
  • The new shed for Discovery equipment
  • Memory bricks
  • Part of room 2 mural
  • Friendship seats
  • Containers to put PE equipment into
  • Coloured doors - can we use them somehow?

New School Community Update - Monday 3 December, 2:00pm in the Library

Are you interested in keeping up to date with our plans for our new school?

If you are then come along to our community meeting next Monday 3 December at 2:00pm in our library.  Opus will be sharing their concept designs for our hall, administration building and learning hubs.  We would also like to ask you about what features you think we need to consider in our landscaping plans.

This is a very exciting time for us;  we would love to share our updated plans with you as well as get your ongoing input. 

New School - Draft Plan 27 June 2018
We have draft plans for our new school!

You will notice that the hall is green; this is because one of our students said they would like a rain forest in the new school.  The architects really have listened to us and to our students!

The next step in the process is for these plans to go to a MOE review committee.  Once they have been reviewed a tender process begins as the Ministry seeks potential builders.  We then enter the design stage where we look in detail at the features of our school.

You can see the hall is coded green, the library and whanau area is orange and the office and admin area is blue. 
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31 May 2018 - Our Future School - The Children Have Their Say

We asked the children what they would or would not like in our new school. Press play to listen to their thoughts.
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New School Zone Adopted - 31 May 2018

Below is the new Ministry of Education approved Enrolment Scheme, map and home zone description, adopted by our Board of Trustees at its meeting  on 31 May 2018.  This zone becomes effective on 31 August 2018.
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New School Zone Proposal - 6 September 2017

There is a government initiative, local schools for local kids, which will mean children only being able to access schools in their local zones.  At the moment we take about eighty students a year from out of zone.  With this government initiative this will not be able to happen once we have moved to our new site and have a firm zone in place. 

In preparation for our shift we have been reviewing our current school zone.  Our proposed future zone extends north down Marshlands Road to Lake Terrace Road and west up Bealey Avenue to Geraldine Street.   There are some dual zone areas proposed on the western side and northern side of Shirley Boys' High School.  A dual zone means that children living in that area can enrol either with us or with Shirley Primary School; they have a choice.

Siblings of children who are currently enrolled or are out of zone, will get first preference for enrolment so they should not be disadvantaged by any zone changes. 

Have a look at the proposed zone changes.  If you want to give us feedback, please email  office@banksave.school.nz

7 February 2017

The final decision has been made from the Ministry. Our school will be rebuilt on the Shirley Boys site in North Avon Parade. Shirley Boys will be relocating to QEII in 2019: at that time the existing school will be demolished and our new school will be built. We anticipate moving into our new school at the beginning of the 2020 school year. This is an exciting prospect and opportunity which we are already planning and preparing for. We know we will be built as an innovative learning environment so therefore we are using the time before we relocate to grow and refine our collaborative teaching practises.  Many of our existing classrooms have been modified allowing teachers to work collaboratively: all teachers at Banks Avenue are currently teaching collaboratively in teams of two.

12 May 2016 - Have A Say - What Site Do You Think Would Be Best?

This survey is now closed.
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23 March 2016

I am sure many of you have heard the rumours that our new school is going to be built on Burwood Park. This is the Board of Trustees preferred site for a number of reasons:
  1. Proximity to our current site.
  2. Ease of traffic flow around Creswell Ave.
  3. Access to develop a school with strong links to all the sporting facilities.
  4. Potential for the school to develop into a community hub with facilities that could be used by the community, e.g. all-weather turf, school hall.
  5. On a main bus route.
  6. Current education of our students not being impacted on as the build takes place.

We were informed that the MOE were in the process of acquiring South Burwood Park for our new school. It is proposed the school would be located just behind the current tennis courts which would remain. We have been waiting for the City Council, who own the land, to inform us that the consultation stage for acquiring this land would begin. This has been slightly preempted with the Council already beginning the process without giving the school the chance to share their thoughts Hi, kia ora, goeie dag, haileo, jou sanh, goedendag . . , konnichiwa. and ideas. You may see or hear that the council's first round of consultation has shown many local residents are against our school being relocated to Burwood Park. Some of their reasons are:
  1. Traffic congestion at pickup and drop off times.
  2. Noise from the school.
  3. Loss of views.
  4. Loss of the park for recreational purposes.

We believe all of these reasons can be mitigated and minimised to one degree or another. If we do not relocate to Burwood Park then the other two main options would be to:
  1. Relocated to the Shirley Boys site, adjacent to Shirley Intermediate. This would not happen until Shirley Boys moves to QEII.
  2. Be rebuilt on our current site, but closer to the back fence, where we think the land may be more stable (this is being checked out).
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In the next few weeks we will be sharing more information with parents and seeking your input for what you would like for the future of our school.

27 May 2015

Tonight Derek Wenmoth gave a presentation on Future Focused Learning in the Rae McDonald Library. Derek is currently the Director of eLearning CORE Education Ltd, a not-for-profit educational research and development organisation based in Christchurch, New Zealand. This presentation is very important as it gives us an insight into what we need to be thinking about with our new school. If you missed tonight's presentation, don't worry, you can watch it by clicking play below.

Click here to find out more about Derek and follow his blog.


May 2015

We are still waiting to hear from the Ministry Of Education about where our new school will be sited, however, we have not let this delay or stop other aspects of our journey forward.

Staff are on a learning journey as are our Board of Trustees in relation to future focused teaching and learning.

  • Most staff are involved in an intensive twenty week professional development module where they are building their own understandings while working collaboratively with other staff members. Next term we will see some of their new knowledge put into practice in class rooms. 
  • As well as this we already have clusters of staff throughout the school working in collaboration with each other as they plan and teach together. 

  • We have plans to open up another two teaching spaces to allow this type of co-teaching to occur more easily.
  • Our BOT have had meetings with the Ministry and are at the beginning stage of thinking about design briefs for the new school. 
  • Later this year we intend to review and revise our current school vision and values to ensure it is aligned with our new thinking and understanding, however, in order to do this we need to ensure our parent community is knowledgeable and understanding of the shifts in education that lay ahead. 


Parent Evening
We have organised a parent evening hosted by one of the foremost educationalists in this field, Derek Wenmoth. Derek will share his vast knowledge with us and facilitate parents voicing their wonderings, needs and hopes for their children. This is being held on Wednesday 27th May from 7pm-8:30pm in the Rae McDonald Library. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the best and to have a say in our new school.

In order to help with the parents attending this session we will provide child care in one of our classrooms. Please RSVP by Friday May 22 so we can gauge numbers and ascertain whether we may need a larger venue.

The following link is to a video on the creation of learner centered teaching – this gives great insight into the things we as a school community need to be thinking about as we move forward into the design phase of our new build. 

http://www.edtalks.org/video/ten-trends-2015- learner-orientation 

January 2015

Our school was damaged in the February 2011 earthquakes so the Ministry of Education are going to re-build us on a new site. Building will commence in 2016 with the intent that we will be ready to move into our new school during 2017.

Our new school will be built as a  Modern Learning Environment  enabling us to provide future- focused education to our students. During the next two years all teachers at Banks Avenue School will get the opportunity to work collaboratively building and increasing our knowledge and understanding of future focused education so we can continue to offer our students a first class education and remain the school of choice for all.  


Modern Learning Environments
An opportunity to design and build a Modern Learning Environment is an opportunity to create spaces fit for 21st century learners. As much as it’s about buildings and furnishings, it’s about creating spaces that promote learning which is personalised, student-centred, engaging and connected to real problems and the real world. Modern Learning Environments can help create the environment, mind- sets and learning capacity to help our young people make the most of their talents on the local and global stage.

Click on the button above to find out more about Modern Learning Environments and to keep up to date with our staff's professional learning.