The aspirations of Marlborough’s community for its young learners are the focus of a consultation project being launched this month by the Marlborough Girls’ and Boys’ Colleges.
The schools are working together to gain a better understanding of the region’s values and priorities for secondary education, to help them adapt and plan for current and future learning needs for their students.
Marlborough Girls’ College Principal Karen Stewart says the consultation informed by the schools’ community will help them to plan ahead for their co-location to a shared campus in 2021.
The Ministry of Education requires the schools to develop a vision and education briefs before the end of the year for what they plan to offer and how they plan to operate on the shared campus.
“This is an important milestone for both Colleges as it enables us to take stock of what we’re already doing, and to work closer with our community and with each other to enhance our future offering for students,” Ms Stewart says.
“We want to ensure that our community’s aspirations are reflected across everything we do to help our students achieve locally and globally, well into the future.”
She says the level of consultation on what the schools offer will be a first for the two colleges.
“There’s naturally a lot of interest in where the Colleges will be located, but before a building site is pegged out we need to plan for how both schools will operate, what we deliver, how we deliver it, what we need to be able to deliver it, and ultimately how we can ensure the best possible learning environments are created for Marlborough’s students to thrive.”
Marlborough Boys’ College Principal Wayne Hegarty says the consultation will be as much about validating what the schools are already doing, and measuring this against the community’s aspirations.
“The first place to start is to understand how we’re meeting our community’s needs already and where future opportunities lie,” Mr Hegarty says.
“By doing this now, we’re able to clearly scope the future design requirements for the new campus, to ensure the facilities are fit-for-purpose for future learning styles and curricula, to better plan for how the colleges will operate on a shared site, and to give our students the best support possible to meet our region’s aspirations.”
“It’s an exciting time for us. We’ve done a lot of work behind-the-scenes to research and understand what’s working elsewhere and what’s not, and to apply those learnings to our own situation,” Mr Hegarty says.
“The Colleges are very much a part of Marlborough’s social and economic fabric, and we’re looking forward to the community’s aspirations and input guiding the development of the new schools.”
The Colleges will hold a workshop with community and industry representatives in late June, followed by public consultation in the third term.