PHYSICAL RESOURCES

Our Lady Star of the Sea School occupies approximately 2.5 hectares of land bounded by Oakridge Way and Stella Maris Way in the Howick area of Auckland.  The site itself is occupied in agreement with the Proprietor, the Catholic Bishop of Auckland.  Buildings consist of two two room blocks, two three room blocks, three four room blocks, and a single room inclusive of shared resource areas for each two rooms as well as seven sets of toilets.  A school hall completes the buildings.  A Management Room, an Information Centre inclusive of school wide resources, a text room, a Reading Recovery room, English as a Second Language room, an art & media storage area, a physical education storage area and a caretaker’s area are all included in creating a pentagon shape accessible under a continuing covered way.  The administration area consists of a secretarial and principal’s office, an Associate Principal’s room, a medical area inclusive of a mainstream toilet, a resource room, toilets and a staffroom.

 The surrounding environment has two purpose built playgrounds and a sandpit.  A shade area of approximately 50 square metres has been built for health reasons.  Landscaping has been completed for educational and aesthetic reasons with a predominance of native plants.  There are two playing fields to the east of the site.  A Sabbath Space for child and adult alike to use and reflect within is adjacent to the lower field and Rooms 16 & 17.

            
Classrooms have appropriate technology.  They are linked to the office by phone and speaker systems.  Computers are in all classrooms.  Networking, e-mail and internet facilities are part of the Information & Communication infrastructure, as is the computerisation of the information area.  A networked pod of five computers is available for both resourcing information and use in recreational times.

The school also has a range of musical and sports equipment.

A tarmac and concrete area within the pentagon shape has two netball courts and facilities for other sporting codes.  Adjacent to Oakridge Way and Stella Maris Way by the hall is a large area for short term and long term parking for both community and the school staff alike.