Quake-hit St Martins School has reopened but at least eight classrooms are out of action.
Two classrooms, each with about 20 pupils, are operating in the hall.
The library, music room and a room that usually houses resource teachers have also been converted into classrooms.
"We have no space," principal Rob Callaghan said.
The school, which has a roll of about 480, reopened yesterday, with most pupils returning. About 60 pupils were still away.
Callaghan said the school had faced "hurdles, but we've jumped over each one and pushed them aside" to reopen.
He said he had never seen so many workmen in one place at one time.
"One day we had three roofers, seven people installing heat pumps, people doing repiling, others checking the heat pumps, two builders, two technicians doing wiring, and plumbers as well."
The school also has a 30,000-litre fresh-water tank in the playground so children have drinking water.
Callaghan said the two classrooms would operate in the hall for the rest of the term. He hoped temporary classrooms would be delivered next term.
Teachers and pupils were coping well with the change, but it was still a novelty, he said.
"It's going to be a lot harder with the classroom next door, but it's a lot bigger than our old classroom," pupil Cathy Reimer, 12, said. "We're going to get used to it, I suppose," she said.
The Press - 22/03/2011
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