Prefabs onsite at Wellington Girl's College. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government has agreed to fund new classrooms and a school hall at Wellington Girls' College.
The school's biggest teaching block was pronounced earthquake-prone in April, with 13 classrooms housing about 380 students every school hour affected.
In August, students set-up school on Parliament grounds, in protest of the school having to close - and the fact the Ministry of Education had known since 2020 that the block was unsafe.
Now, Cabinet had approved funding for a new two-storey building with classrooms and administration space, a new school hall, strengthening work on Brook Block, relocation of some of the modular classrooms to a permanent location and removal of some older prefabs.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said it would ensure the school continued to deliver a "world-leading education for generations to come".
It came on top of previous government investment to deliver modular classrooms, strengthen the Pipitea Block and build covered courts.
This new work would add about 20 classrooms, and bring the total amount spent on the school across previous and future funding announcements to about $100 million.
Work on Pipitea Block was already underway and was expected to be completed mid-2025, with strengthening of Brook Block planned to begin by the end of the year.
The new two-storey building and hall would begin construction in 2026.
"Improving education infrastructure is an important part of laying the foundation for New Zealanders to succeed. This Government is committed to delivering just that," Stanford said.
Principal Julia Davidson said the announcement came as a surprise on Tuesday morning, but after "years and years of trying to get there, we have got there. It's a good solution for the school, the scope's fantastic."
She said it was everything they had asked for, and they were keen to crack-on with the build and replace those "slightly manky" facilities.
Currently they did not have a hall or a field, and this funding would give them back the things they lost in 2020.
She was not convinced the school's proximity to Parliament had made things easier or faster - their challenges had been ongoing for years, caused by the seismically unstable land the school sat on.
"I don't think necessarily the two are linked," she said.
"But we'll take it!"
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