Five Forks finally comes to fruition

• Published date: 19 November 2021
• Publication title: Oamaru Mail

The rural North Otago primary school is preparing to get its $350,000 classroom, bathroom and cloak room rebuild and upgrade under way, after work has been in the pipeline for about 10 years.

Breen Construction Oamaru will start on stage one of the project, the senior classroom, on December 6. Stage two, the junior classroom, and stage three, the bathrooms and cloak room, would follow.

Five Forks principal Belinda Brosnan said the school was ‘‘long overdue’’ for an upgrade. Current Five Forks teacher Alice Kingan was a pupil at the school during the last revamp in the late 1990s.

The new classrooms would have sliding glass doors opening on to the covered deck, creating an indoor-outdoor flow for the ‘‘country kids’’, and maximising connectivity and learning opportunities. There would also be quiet zones with modern furnishing for an innovative environment, Mrs Brosnan said.

‘‘We’re very excited because it matches with our modern, flexible, innovative learning space, and for these kids they love being outdoors and it’s got that opportunity to pull back the doors and they can work outside,’’ Mrs Brosnan said.

Allowing children to learn outdoors was huge for Five Forks’ 48 year 1 to 8 pupils.

‘‘To be at one with nature is awesome.’’

The children were...