Demolition crews have begun levelling the oldest and most recognisable building at the Cathedral Grammar School in central Christchurch.

The three-storey Statham Building, which anchors the Zone 4 CBD Cathedral Grammar campus, had been wrenched by the September 4 quake, and the February 22 quake damaged it beyond repair.

And while Statham, which was built in 1928, is the first Cathedral Grammar building to come down, it may not be the last. 

The two-storey heritage-listed wooden Junior School has been severely damaged, and the costs of repairing that building – it would have to be lifted from its foundations, for starters – could outweigh the cost of building again from scratch. 

There are questions, too, about the three-storey Boys' School. 

At first glance, that 1960s-era concrete block building looks OK.

But the land beneath one edge of the building has subsided, and the two halves of the building have been cracked apart.

The fact that Cathedral Grammar has been evacuated during the demolition of Statham doesn’t mean that education at Cathedral Grammar has ground to a halt. 

The school’s acting Headmaster, Malcolm Long, says the 350 pupils at the years 1-8 school are continuing their study at locations throughout the city and Canterbury countryside.

The Cathedral Grammar preschoolers are now meeting in the hall at St Mary’s Merivale, for instance – while the year 7 and 8 boys are taking their lessons at a disused state primary school at Halkett, near West Melton.

Each day a bus leaves from Ferrymead in the east of Christchurch, wends its way across the city picking up boys at various stops, before trundling out to the safety and tranquillity of Halkett.

As soon as the Cathedral Grammar campus has been made thoroughly safe again, Malcolm Long wants to bring his far-flung charges back there.

Some of the buildings on the campus survived the quake unscathed – including the Girls’ School, and the Pre-School – and prefab classrooms will soon be trucked onto the site for other classes to use.

As soon as those prefab classrooms can be wired up, and plumbing and drainage can be hooked up, the children will be back.

And if all goes to plan, says Malcolm Long, that could happen within a month.

Much to be thankful for

No matter the scale of the logistical, demolition and rebuilding challenges that have landed on his plate, Malcolm doesn’t have much trouble keeping things in perspective.

He’s eternally grateful, for instance, that no-one was badly hurt by the 12:51pm quake on February 22.

It struck just before the end of the lunch break, when only one teacher and two little girls were inside the Junior School.

As that building rocked and swayed, and glass exploded, and swing doors flailed wildly, the teacher grabbed the hands of those girls and sprinted across piles of sprayed books and debris to safety.

Malcolm sees deliverance, too, in the fact that the boy who was supposed to ring the bell for the end of lunch on Feb 22 was away.

Under normal circumstances, boys eat their lunch or play ball games next to the Statham wall.

When the bell is rung, everyone puts their lunchboxes back in their locker rooms so they’re ready to resume class.

Normally, that bell tolls at 12:45pm.

On February 22, the bell didn’t get rung till 12:50pm – one minute before the quake struck.

Had it rung earlier or later, boys would have been standing or sitting where dozens of bricks showered down.

Malcolm has a sense of history, too.

He knows that the school has survived challenges in the past. In the grimmest years of the Great Depression of the 1930s, for example, Cathedral Grammar only kept going because three teachers lived on the top floor of Statham, and taught for nothing.

“We are now facing a hard situation,” he says.

“But we’ve faced hard situations before, and we don’t face these challenges alone. This is the city’s plight, and we will all come through it.

“And when we do, we will be stronger for it.”

FOOTNOTE: Since 1881 Cathedral Grammar has educated many of the choristers who sing at ChristChurch Cathedral. It’s one of just five such cathedral grammar schools outside the United Kingdom.

The quake hasn’t been allowed to interfere with the musical training and education of those young choristers, either.

This week they’ve been rehearsing again – and they’ll be taking part in Friday's National Memorial Service in Hagley Park, just a stone’s throw from the school.