A nationwide programme upgrading New Zealand's small and remote schools has completed its 800th school upgrade, says Education Minister Erica Stanford.
"The work of the Small Schools Upgrade Programme | Ngā Iti Kahurangi has benefited thousands of students around the country and reduced the burden of maintenance for busy school principals and school boards."
"When we came into office school property maintenance was failing to keep pace with need and classrooms in Kura had suffered from a lack of investment over decades.
To speed up the pace of maintenance programmes the Government:
- Raised the 5-Year Agreement funding (base rate by 50 percent to $45/m² and doubled the minimum allocation for small schools to $90,000).
- Fast-tracked a $413 million investment package for maintenance, rural school upgrades and essential infrastructure.
- Reduced average classroom construction costs by using standard designs and offsite manufacturing.
- Created the standalone New Zealand School Property Agency (NZSPA) and appointed its board to fix an inefficient bureaucratic process.
As a result in the past few years, the programme has installed over:
- 74,000 efficient LED lights
- 89,000 acoustic panels to reduce classroom noise
- 5,700 bales of ceiling insulation
- 201,000 square metres of carpet with built-in underlay to improve warmth
- 57,000 residual current devices (RCDs) to make schools safer by meeting electrical safety standards for power outlets.
"This is about creating warm, safe, dry classrooms for our children and young people to learn in and thrive," says Erica Stanford.
"Principals are telling me these upgrades are making a significant difference to the school environment."
The principal of a Nelson-Marlborough school, which has received upgrades, says the work happened much faster than anticipated.
"For a busy school this is a great result - it's also great for me not to have any extra management roles to undertake."
And a principal at a Waikato school said they were "absolutely chuffed" with the school's new carpet and praised the communication and workmanship throughout. "The carpet looks and feels amazing."
The Government announced last September that it would be extending the programme, with additional funding of $175 million, to carry out more work at small and remote schools.
In total, 934 schools will have upgrades including vinyl flooring, carpet, heating, and improvements to the outside of their school buildings including windows, roofing, cladding, and asbestos removal.
This work will be completed by the end of summer 2028/29.
A list of schools is available at Ngā iti Kahurangi - improving classrooms in small or remote schools - Ministry of Education
