Categories: News

Hamilton school announces $8 million building project

&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-902" style&equals;"float&colon; right&semi;" alt&equals;"SND4--4-St-Pauls" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;SND4--4-St-Pauls&period;jpg" width&equals;"200" height&equals;"150" &sol;>St Paul’s Collegiate School&comma; an independent day and boarding school based in Hamilton&comma; has announced an &dollar;8 million development project made up of four key undertakings to be executed over the next 12 months&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The four key projects include launching a Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Science and Business&semi; building a cutting-edge learning hub&semi; expanding the school’s current music block&semi; and rebuilding one of the school’s boarding houses&comma; Williams House&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>St Paul’s is hoping to change the face of agribusiness education in New Zealand with the launch of The Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Science and Business in 2015&period; The industry-led project has been in the pipeline for two years and has attracted key industry partners including Beef and Lamb&comma; BNZ&comma; Livestock Improvement Corporation and Greenlea Premier Meats&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Headmaster of St Paul’s Collegiate School&comma; Grant Lander&comma; said St Paul’s had been working with key groups in the ag sector&comma; industry businesses and professionals and tertiary institutes to develop a curriculum that will produce tertiary-qualified students for the sector&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Science and Business is of national significance&semi; we have been working with the industry to discover how we&comma; as a country&comma; need to be educating the next generation of agribusiness leaders&comma;” Mr Lander said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This course isn’t just for St Paul’s students&semi; we have designed this course with the whole country in mind&comma; with the needs of the agricultural industry driving us to make a change in the New Zealand education system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;St Paul’s will set the template for the programme and work with a group of lead schools in 2015&period; In 2016&comma; we will host a national conference and workshops for teachers who are interested in delivering the new curriculum&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We will then offer the curriculum to secondary schools across the country in 2017&comma; providing all students an opportunity to learn about the incredible career <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> available to them within New Zealand’s largest export industry&comma;” Mr Lander said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>St Paul’s students who choose the agribusiness programme as part of their NCEA curriculum will have access to a state-of-the-art learning centre that will boast video conferencing technology&comma; connecting students with agribusiness professionals worldwide in a virtual classroom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As well as launching the Centre of Excellence in 2015&comma; St Paul’s will expand and remodel one of the school’s boarding houses&period; The opening of Williams House will complete the redevelopment of the school’s four boarding houses&comma; which are now some of the most comfortable boarding facilities in the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Williams House redevelopment will accommodate 30 extra beds for an expected increase in demand for boarding spaces as a result of the Centre of Excellence initiative&period; The house will allow for enhanced pastoral care with tutor and housemaster residences included in the building&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The next 24 months will also see the build of a cutting-edge learning hub&comma; similar to the learning hubs used in tertiary institutes such as Wintec&period; St Paul’s original library was built in 1968&comma; before the introduction of computers and collaborative learning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>St Paul’s plans to build a hub that will become the heart of the school’s learning&period; The building will boast open spaces&comma; digital resources&comma; increased learning support for students who require additional help and break-out rooms for group discussion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Wintec is a prime example of a learning hub purpose-built for 21st-century learning&comma; moving away from the traditional notion of a reader’s library and adopting open spaces with digital facilities&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The expansion of the Mary Hornsby music centre is also on the cards for St Paul’s&comma; with an additional music room&comma; recording studio and group practice rooms being built for the almost 300 students taking instrumental lessons&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Almost &dollar;2 million has been raised so far&period; St Paul’s Board of Trustees will match every donation&comma; dollar for dollar&comma; until the &dollar;8 million goal is reached&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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