Work began in January and is on schedule to transform, in two stages, a single old block of eight dingy and cramped classrooms into bright, airy and modern classrooms that can be separated or turned into one large room by the use of sliding glass doors, for new entrants to year 2.
Ancillary rooms were built either side of the block for break-out lessons, one-to-one, small group tutoring or teachers' use.
Gas-powered central heating was installed and ceilings were lowered and insulated, and electronic boards will be added and new carpet laid. Pupils' toilets were also upgraded.
Principal Dr Lyn Bird said the new block had been planned for 18 months and was ''built to Ministry of Education modern learning standards and a lot of that is around flexible learning spaces''.
Funding came from the school's ''5YA'', or five-year agreement for property funding, and was not drawn from teaching resources, Dr Bird said.
The largest development since the new $1.4 million intermediate block was built three years ago was expected to be open for use next term. Classrooms for the middle school years of 3 and 4 were scheduled for renovation next, followed by classrooms for years 5 and 6. Year 7 was already accommodated.
The administration block would also ideally be remodelled, although the school could not use 5YA funds for the upgrade.
Queenstown Primary School had a roll of 585 pupils last week, higher than at the same time last year. A roll of about 670 was expected by the end of the year and 700 was considered the comfortable capacity, Dr Bird said.
Building new classrooms depended on whether enrolment growth continued and relocatable classrooms on site would be removed and used elsewhere, as happened with Remarkables Primary School earlier this year.
