NEW PARNELL SCHOOL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 799, 21 October 1929, Page 1

NEW PARNELL SCHOOL

SITE IN ST. STEPHEN’S AVENUE ROOM FOR PLAYING AREAS Parnell School will soon be removed to St. Stephen's Avenue, Parnell, where it will occupy part of the section formerly used by the Church of England native school, according to a telegram received by the Auckland Education Board from the Education Department, Wellington. “It has long been recognised that the present position of the school is unsuitable,” said Mr. A. Burns, chairman of the Education Board, this morning. “Negotiations have been proceeding for some years with a view to securing the new site, but the native school trust would not agree until recently, when it bought a large area at Bombay. The present school Is close to the railway line and is surrounded by fast-moving traffic which is dangerous to the children, and there are no playing areas close at hand. With the growth of the city the centre of population has moved further out and the school is now in an area of warehouses and workshops. Children have to come a long way to school, in many instances. The site will be offered for sale and should go a long- way toward paying for the up-to-date building it Is proposed to ere ct in St. Stephen’s Avenue.” It is part of the policy of the Education Board to buy no new school grounds of less than four acres. In the past it was considered unnecessary to have room for more than the actual buildings. As a result of this short-sighted policy the board has often been forced to buy out adjoining property owners at high figures, as was the case when the Napier Street school was enlarged. There will be plenty of room for expansion on this new site.