Pollok School
Pollok school closed a few years (2006) ago due to falling school roles. It obviously has some heritage value but nobody is sure what will happen to it.
The Franklin District Council has refused the first right to purchase it under the public works act.
"Council declines this first opportunity to purchase the Pollok School under the Public Works Act 1981, but directs Council officers to monitor the disposal of the Pollok School (over the next one to two years) and liaise with the Pollok Ratepayers’ Association, as appropriate, reporting back to the Strategy and Policy Committee on any further opportunity to consider purchase of the property, consistent with Council’s strategies and priorities"
Update: As of 27/03/2009, the former school is now registered as a Historic Place -Category ii
The excerpt from the Historic places trust website reads:
"Constructed in 1883 in a rural settlement on the Awhitu Peninsula, Pollok School (Former) served local primary school pupils for over 120 years until its closure in 2005. It is now believed to be the oldest surviving school building on its original site on the Peninsula"
and goes on to say
"The tiny Pollok School (Former) has architectural value as a representative example of a little-altered, single classroom school constructed to an early Auckland Education Board design under the Education Act 1877. It may also have significance as a relatively early example of an educational building designed by Education Board Architect Henry Allright. It has particular value for reflecting the development of education on the Awhitu peninsula from the 1880s onwards and for demonstrating the reconciliation of initially separate religious communities in Pollok. The place has historical and social value for its association with the ongoing development of the rural community initially founded as a Presbyterian Special Settlement, and for its 35-year role as the venue of social events and meetings of the Pollok Roads Board and other community bodies"
Download a copy the Historic Places Trust document