Students at an Auckland high school have finished work on a former state house which is now up for grabs after almost a year of work.
One Tree Hill College bought the 1970s house from Kāinga Ora for just $1 in May last year as a project for its trades education students. It was moved to the school.
The house, which was at the end of its life, has now been completed and is ready to go up for auction.
The course is an effort by the school to build a connection between the classroom and the trades sector.
“This project has allowed us to not only learn skills and train our students but also all be providing a home for someone,” teacher in charge of trade Charlotte McKeon told 1News.
For 10 months, 70 year 12 and 13 students got hands-on experience, giving the previously dilapidated house a facelift.
“The students came in, and we pulled the floor up. We took all the walls out. Students rebuilt all of that,” McKeon said.
Year 13 Alisha Taylor said students usually learnt how to make furniture, so being able to work on a construction site was “incredible”.
One Tree Hill College bought the 1970s house from Kāinga Ora for just $1 in May last year as a project for its trades education students. (Source: 1News)
McKeon said the course was started to ease the “difficult” transition from the classroom to the trades sector.
“Building the house here allowed the students to be able to mimic those types of skills in a safe environment where they could learn, work with others, with different trades.”
At the end of the course, students would have completed the BCITO level three pre-trade unit standards while in school.
Taylor said it was valuable to learn how the different trades operated.
“You get to see the different types of trades. We’ve spoken to the electricians, the tilers and everything,” she said.
From next term, Year 13 trade students will spend one day a week at a work placement site to further their skills.
Taylor said she was “hoping to go into carpentry or maybe kitchen bathroom designing and something definitely hands-on”.
BICTO director Greg Durkin said the programme was great for students.
“It’s a way of them trying before they buy — painting, building, tiling, engineering,” he said.
He encouraged more schools to incorporate the style of learning.
“The opportunity for schools to integrate real-life learning into everyday curriculum is something more schools are taking on and more schools should.”
Durkin said schools nationwide had already reached out and were interested in following the programme.
The listing for the relocatable three-bedroom, one-bathroom home with an open kitchen, living, and dining plan is now live.
An auction is set to take place on-site on April 3, starting at $200,000.
One Tree Hill College confirmed the funds would be put back into the school’s trade academy program, and they have another house coming in May.
Construction Minister Chris Penk called the course a “game changer”.
“I think for many young lives in terms of their ability to understand how things are put together, how a workplace operates, but also, of course, the actual skills they’re going to learn.”
He said it was the pathway needed between school student and apprentice.
“It’s valuable to their future lives, and the community needs more houses built, win-win all around.”
