Put simply, co-location means the colleges will continue to operate as two separate single-sex schools, with separate Boards of Trustees and their own uniforms, values and culture, but situated side-by-side on a single campus.
Back when the idea of shifting Marlborough Boys’ College and Marlborough Girls’ College was first mooted, the Marlborough community chose, by way of public consultation by the Ministry of Education, to co-locate the schools.
The co-location model is different from co-education.
Co-location means the two schools are merely located on one site, which enables potential opportunities for sharing (such as specialist subject areas and larger resources like gyms), while co-education means one school catering for all.
Co-location is an exciting and rare opportunity for Marlborough’s single sex secondary schools to create something that provides further opportunity to meet the needs of our young people, and of our region.
Co-location enables us to reap the benefits of both single sex and co-educational models.
There are a number of advantages to co-locating both our colleges on one site such as the logistical advantages for families with both boys and girls.
There is also the opportunity for both schools to take advantage of sharing and collaborating in order to offer access to a wider range of subjects, extra-curricular activities and much more. Pooling resources means there will be more to put toward state-of-the-art facilities to support sport, culture and performing arts, to name a few.
Staff from both colleges will also have the ability to support one another, share experience and further their own professional development, which will naturally have positive flow-on affects for our students.
Not all things will change. Each school community will retain aspects of their existing culture, history, and values at the new campus.