Rosehill Revival gets thumbs up

BY IMOGEN NEALE

Take one young North Shore engineer, a special needs teacher and a 15-year-old with a penchant for building things and what do you get?

An award-winning outdoor area complete with music and shade – and all for under $2000.

The Rosehill Special School project was kickstarted by the Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers awards, an annual competition that brings teachers, students and engineers together to work on a project to benefit a school or community.

The awards also give students a taste of what it would be like to have a career in technology, engineering and science. The project can be big or small and involve the whole school or one student.

At Rosehill Special School the challenge engineer Anneliese Sabrowski, student Shane Grantham and teacher Rachel Sharp took on was rejuvenating a tired outdoor area.

Shane says the area "was pretty boring – there wasn’t much to do".

So with Ms Sharp and Ms Sabrowski’s help he devised a survey asking students, teachers and parents for their ideas and input.

Some of their suggestions included music, more shade and a bright mosaic. One class even made posters to illustrate their ideas.

From there the trio had to come up with a budget, ask for quotes, work with contractors and plan how each stage was going to unfold.

Ms Sabrowski met with Shane once a month and walked him through the processes – explaining how an engineer works and reviewing the project’s progress.

Principal Heather Hedger says the project showed Shane that if you want to achieve something you have to set goals – "things don’t just happen".

Three months ago the school held a working bee and parents and students turned up to do physical work on the project.

Now the outdoor area boasts a stereo, an expansive blue shade, new seats and a bright mural and is anything but boring.

The basketball hoop has also been turned around so energetic shots don’t always soar over the fence and into the neighbour’s backyard.

Shane says he’s enjoyed the project and is proud that his schoolmates have given the area the thumbs up.

Given Rosehill school was the joint-winner of the Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers Awards special school category Shane might find he’s put in charge of another project – and another pile of paperwork.

The competition is open to all primary and secondary schools in New Zealand. For more information see www.nea.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News