After 146 years, Spreydon School has "moved house", its principal says.

It had used the former Manning Intermediate hall for discos and end-of-year assemblies since 2014, but on Thursday, the school, its 270 children and 30 staff relocated to that site for good.

At 11am, Christchurch City Council controllers turned red the traffic lights at the intersection of Lincoln and Hoon Hay Rds, and local police marshalled the entire school roll to onto its new home, about 600 metres away from the Halswell Rd site it's occupied since March 26, 1872.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Spreydon School pupils cross Lincoln Rd under police escort.

Staff said leaving the beloved school pool, three playgrounds and 1927 buildings was "bittersweet", but principal Andrea Stewart said they would "breathe the spirit of Spreydon" into its new campus.

"Spreydon School is not defined by shiny new buildings or gardens. It's each of you sitting here," she told pupils assembled in their new hall, one of only two surviving Manning Intermediate buildings (the other is the office block).

"This is a day of hope for the future, intertwined with memories of the old days".

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Spreydon School pupils Keanu Turner, 11, Delilah Gordon, 5, and Lucy Doggett, 5, ring the old school bell in the new school. Principal Andrea Stewart is on the right.

Stewart was a deputy principal at Spreydon when then-Education Minister Hekia Parata's controversial decision to close Manning was announced. Spreydon School's hall had been earthquake damaged and staff expected the Ministry of Education "were going to say 'we're giving you a new hall'," property manager and school trustee Mike Hyland said.

"Instead they said 'you're moving up the road'."

It was a shock to the school's community, in particular nearby Rowley Avenue School, which feared it wouldn't be able to compete with its "new, shiny and finished neighbour", then-principal James Griggs said at the time. Rowley Avenue has started its $5 million refurbishment ahead of schedule, according to the Ministry of Education.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Spreydon School pupils during their first assembly in the new school gymnasium. The hall was only three years old when Manning Intermediate learned in 2013 that it would be closed.

Stewart said "the same children, the same philosophy, and the same vision" would guide Spreydon School forward, regardless of its new location.

"It's like moving house. You have to cull what you've got, you take some things, but that dining table might not fit.

"Where we were, we were trapped by traffic, our buildings were old. To come in to heat pumps rather than a boiler that turns off at 8.30am is exciting," she said.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Spreydon School pupils make their way up Hoon Hay Rd towards their new school on Thursday morning.

"By moving here, we have made sure there is a future for Spreydon School."

Thursday was the first time its pupils had seen the completed school site. Spreydon's oldest pupil, Keanu Turner, 11, and its two youngest, new entrants Delilah Gordon and Lucy Doggett, both 5, rang the original school bell in commemoration.

The new school, which has four learning "hubs" in place of 16 classrooms, is built for 243 children - fewer than the current roll. It is hoped a newly drawn zone, and the departure of 63 year 6 students at year's end, will help stablise enrolments.

Staff photographer Spreydon School children enjoy an "adventure playground" in 1982. Originally Upper Heathcote School, Spreydon School occupied its Halswell Rd site for 146 years.

The keys to the old school - once known as Upper Heathcote School - will be handed back to the Ministry of Education in two weeks' time. The site will temporarily be made available to other schools undergoing rebuilds, although it is possible the council will later buy part of its Halswell Rd frontage for its planned widening of Lincoln Rd.



