Wellington Girls' College. Photo:
A massive rebuild at a Wellington college has forced it to find an alternative place to hold NCEA exams.
Wellington Girls' College has won space at Victoria University.
Principal Julia Davidson said the inner-city school had no choice as it must begin demolishing its earthquake-prone tower block.
"The problem is this year, that we start the demolition of the tower block on the first of November, and so that's going to be too noisy for us to have exams right next to it.
"It's just an enormous process."
The school told parents the Ministry of Education had been working all year to find another venue, and done a deal with the university.
The exam venue would vary day-to-day depending on what spaces were free at either Victoria's Rutherford House by the central railway station or at its Kelburn campus.
It was "a very complex logistical exercise".
The school would run buses to Kelburn and have staff up there in high-viz vests to guide students.
Students with special assessment conditions would get more information closer to the time, and all students would get an orientation in the first week of next term.
The college has perhaps the longest-running, most headache-inducing rebuild going on of any school nationwide.
Initiated in 2017 after the Kaikōura quake, with official budget go-ahead in 2019, it is now not expected by the ministry to be completed till 2028.
It has already been without a hall or fields - after mobile classrooms were put on them - for years.
Detailed design was about to begin, which might last a year.
The budget has kept mounting - in 2019 the government put the cost at $25m, but it has gone up by at least $8m, and probably much more than that, since then.
Davidson said a budget had not been approved by the government yet, and the ministry would not say what it is at now.
"Unfortunately, we're not able to provide that info because those projects are at a pre-tender stage and releasing this information could impact the Ministry's ability to engage and negotiate with third parties involved," the ministry said.
