Nikki Kaye
Wellington, August 28, 2017
The Rototuna Senior High School was officially opened in Hamilton today.
Prime Minister Bill English attended the opening ceremony with Tertiary Education Minister Paul Goldsmith, Veterans Affairs Minister David Bennett and Associated Education Minister Tim Macindoe.
$40 million investment
This fantastic new school, which represents an investment of around $40 million, features a range of flexible learning spaces, performing arts studios, a learning resource centre and special education satellite unit.
Rototuna Senior High School is initially catering for Year 11 students, but will grow to a full Year 11 to 13 senior high school in 2019.
It shares a site and some facilities, including technology areas, visual arts studios, music suites and recording studios, with Rototuna Junior High School, which opened in 2016.
I would like to thank the senior school’s founding principal, Natasha Hemara, and the Establishment Board of Trustees led by Megan Campbell, for all their hard work helping to create this state-of-the-art new school.
Excellent facilities
With its excellent facilities and vision of ‘Connect, Inspire and Soar,’ Rototuna Senior High School will deliver a fantastic learning environment for local students.
The school is located in the greenfield development area of Rototuna, which is a fast-growing area. To reflect this, master planning for both the junior and senior high schools allows for expansion to accommodate future growth.
Also, onsite and part of the official opening today is the $9.2 million Rototuna Community Recreation Centre, a four-court complex funded jointly by the Ministry of Education and Hamilton City Council.
This is about recognising the important place schools have in the community, and identifying ways to work together to maximise the benefit of facilities for the whole community.
Collaborative approach
I would like to acknowledge Mayor Andrew King and the Hamilton City Council for their collaborative approach, as well as the financial contribution the Council has made to the Recreation Centre, which will cater to a range of indoor sports such as volleyball, basketball, netball, futsal and badminton.
Since the investment in Rototuna Senior High School was approved under Budget 2015, the Government has continued to invest in school infrastructure in the Waikato region.
Over the last two years, we have invested over $38 million for various projects, including building new classrooms to meet roll growth, extending Endeavour Primary School and establishing the new Sylvester Primary School.
This is part of this Government’s record investment of over $5 billion towards upgrading and expanding our schools nationwide.
Nikki Kaye is Education Minister of New Zealand.
