little DAY OUT

In case you have been wondering what all the fund raising activity is for; here are a series of questions & answers that we trust you will find useful.

There will also be more information available on the day at the event itself.

Why do we need a hall?
In 2003, the Board of Trustees asked parents what they saw as the upcoming priorities for the school property and its curriculum.

A survey again in 2005 reiterated that the community most wanted an upgrade of the school field to allow winter access and the continued development of the performing arts.

We are on track to meet the first goal now that the fields have been drained and are being reseeded.

The performing arts are flourishing with increased musical and visual arts opportunities available to all children – we just have to tackle the space issue!

One of the hallmarks of Westmere school is the strong culture of caring and collegiality between staff, students, parents and the community.

That’s maintained through time spent together in whole school assemblies, productions and performances to celebrate our students’ learning.

While we use the super-top area well, it’s very difficult holding our art exhibition, parent information evenings and our musical spring extravaganza outside in the cooler months.

The Board hopes the hall will be seen as a venue which the whole Westmere community will use.

What’s happened to the old hall?
The old hall is a 75 year old building that used to be the infant room in the original school. It’s not big enough to hold our growing student population anymore.

In late 2007 the Board decided to renovate it into a more productive multi purpose space for food technology, visual arts, music and dance.

With all our all teaching spaces in use as permanent classrooms it’s been hard to continue to offer activities that need a lot of room or specialist equipment. The reconfiguring of the old hall means we can continue our enrichment and lunchtime performing arts programmes.

Why isn’t the hall project government funded?
Primary schools aren’t entitled to a hall as of right, so there’s no government funding allocated for these. Only secondary schools are entitled to a gymnasium space, which often doubles as the school hall.

Why is it going to cost $1.4 m?
The actual cost of the hall hasn’t been scoped out yet, but the Board strongly believes that the building needs to be an iconic space, of which the whole Westmere community can be proud.

We would rather create a hall that is well designed, in quality materials and representative of Westmere’s strong bicultural links, than cut costs by developing something nondescript which future generations may find cheaply made.

Will we have to raise all the money ourselves?
The Board fundraising strategy team is investigating a range of outside funding sources and will be undertaking some market research next term to see how keen the wider community is to develop this asset.

If the hall is seen as a community building we’ll have better access to a greater range of funding. Conversely, if people see the hall as solely for school use our funding sources narrow.

This is a vital time of building community enthusiasm for the project, so that we have the momentum to move it forward.

What’s the timeframe for development?
In the next 18 months there will be a strong, school-wide campaign in all our major fundraising efforts as being “All for the Hall”.

This is to raise community awareness and enthusiasm for the project and to ignite interest within the wider Westmere community.

Our goal is to raise the money we need and get commitment from outside funding sources within two to three years.

The Board is committed to ensuring that projects that will immediately benefit the students enrolled now are also prioritized and funded. This year these include improved shade areas. Today’s community benefits from the work of previous “generations”, like the landscaping done over Christmas.

There’ll always be new initiatives that children benefit directly from and contribute to for the future.

How did you decide on the plan?
The current plan is a draft drawn up from research undertaken by Board and staff members.

A team visited a range of school halls and gymnasium spaces and staff were surveyed to get feedback about the type of school based activities they would primarily use the building for.

Overwhelmingly, the hall is seen as vital to bring us together for our weekly assemblies and to host visual and performing arts exhibitions and performances. It will also be a great space for after school care and for other community groups to use outside school hours.Click to view larger size concept picture.

The purpose of the plan and the picture you see here is to present you with a concept, so we can get feedback and support to move forward.

Who is the architect?
Brian Trubovich has been employed by the Board to complete building works in line with our five year property plan.

He’s a school grandparent who over the last 18 months has generously given us his time to help build Te Whare Poi Poi and renovate the old Hall space.

Right now he’s designing a new classroom block for the new entrant area which will extend the old dental clinic into two new teaching spaces.

How much of the field will it take up?
None of the actual school playing field will be compromised by this design.

The architect has been mindful of the need to protect the native Pohutakawa, while tying the hall into the existing line of the senior school classrooms.

It’s hoped that the placement of toilet and kitchen facilities right beside the field will add to their value when used for sporting events such as Saturday teeball.

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