A four-year project that will double the size of Pāpāmoa College is set to be completed this year.

In April 2025 the opening of a wharenui built at the front of the property – to recognise the connection to local iwi – will mark the project’s completion, said Pāpāmoa College property and development director Nathan Rillstone.

He said the project came about when the school was first built in 2011 – when it was recognised the college would supersede its roll pretty quickly. “We originally had capacity for 1100 students but there was a sudden surge in families moving to Pāpāmoa.”

Rillstone said it was about 2018 that the Ministry of Education acknowledged the rising demand of enrolments at the college, and approved the $70 million capital works project that was launched in 2021.

The project added four two-storey buildings, including a purpose-built technology centre, library, admin block as well as open-plan learning spaces. However, a second gym had been deferred to a later date.

Careful collaboration

Rillstone said the rapid expansion of Pāpāmoa College had been an exercise in careful collaboration between the school and the construction company. “It [the build project] means that some students have only known the school as a construction site and when our principal Iva Ropati arrived two years ago, we were running a school and also building a school.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the construction team who have to do their job while we have a college operating.”

The front of Pāpāmoa College with the whare construction site on the right. Photo: Stead Construction.

Rillstone said Hawke’s Bay-based Stead Construction had gone to great lengths to avoid disrupting classes and other high-priority school events such as NCEA exams. “They’re quite versed in school construction,” said Rillstone.

“While health and safety is a priority on any construction site, it’s even more so here because you’ve got young people moving around with heavy vehicles like cranes and trucks on-site. Stead manipulates its schedule to get a lot of the tasks like jackhammering done in the holidays.

Ropati said the company’s work to minimise the distractions created by having a building site “while you’re trying to keep a busy school operating” had been significant.

“A normal construction site, you can do what you like, when you like. Here, they can’t,” said Rillstone. “There’s a lot that they have to work around, in fact, they’ll do concrete pours at four in the morning to avoid the school day.”

NCEA overcomes disruption

However, even with all the construction taking place, the school had seen a rise in NCEA results. From 2022 to 2023, the number of students to achieve NCEA was up across the board; the difference in Level 1 the most apparent, which jumped more than 15%.

“We’re quite proud that the NCEA results have improved in the last few years and we’ve done that with all this disruption. I think what we’ve achieved is pretty remarkable,” said Rillstone.

Pāpāmoa College seen from the back – prior to the start of construction of the whare. Photo: Stead Construction.

When the college opened in 2011 it had a floor space of 7500sq m. By April this year, the school’s size will have doubled to about 15,500sq m to cater for the 2000 students expected by 2026.

Back in October, a celebration was held to open the Te Punga admin Year 7-8 block – but the cheers will really go up when the wharenui – which will have two learning spaces for up to 60 students – opens in April.

Strong iwi relationship

“The school has made a concerted effort to develop a strong relationship with Ngā Pōtiki iwi,” said Rillstone. “The wharenui will be used primarily to drive our Te Ao Māori programme – and having it at the front of our school gives us the connection that we’ve been missing.”

Ropati agreed. “It gives us that link back to our Māori culture and it also anchors us as a school in a multi-cultural context. Māori tikanga (custom) is that the whare is front and centre and even the way it’s positioned with the entrance facing north is significant.

“It will be a community space because we’re a public asset that we want people to use.” Roll on April 2025!