A North Canterbury high school principal has praised a government funding injection that will bring back single-cell classrooms.
Education Minister Erica Stanford announced in July that the Government will no longer build open-plan classrooms, due to high noise levels and other disadvantages that outweighed any benefits.
There had been backlash from educators and staff, who claimed children learning in open-plan spaces could be easily distracted, and it could be difficult to manage their behaviour.
In 2025, $10 million was invested into classroom modifications for 40 schools. Following this, over 200 expressions of interest were sent in from schools across the country.
The Government now plans to spend a further $31.3 million to convert open-plan learning spaces into traditional-style classrooms.
Ninety schools across the country will benefit from the recently announced funding boost, with eight of these schools located in the Waimakariri District.
Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey said the return to traditional, single cell classrooms was a "no-brainer".
Doocey said this latest round would provide further funding for schools that had already started installing walls, along with new construction on five more schools in the region.
Kaiapoi High School principal Jason Reid was pleased with the news.
“It will be significantly more productive, because we will now have those single cell classrooms that teachers essentially can monitor and run their own classrooms rather than having the potential conflict of having another classroom being run in the same space.”
Although Reid was pleased with the outcomes, he was still waiting on some details to be confirmed by the Ministry of Education before construction plans could begin.
“We are in need of breaking some double classrooms into single ones in the near future… However, we are still waiting for some information to come through from the ministry.”
A Ministry of Education spokesperson said it had sent out a letter to the schools involved in the funding rounds and will be working more closely with them as plans progress.
As well as Kaiapoi High School, Kaiapoi North, Southbrook and Te Koromiko Swannanoa, Kaiapoi Borough, Putahi Belfast, West Eyreton and Woodend Schools will also receive funding.
