New spaces

We are delighted to share some visuals of what our new Junior innovative learning environment will look like when it is completed at the end of this term. This will be complemented by the furniture that we purchased last year for our junior students (the furniture below is just an example for these visuals). One of the big changes is that we have been able to make much better use of wide corridor space – with this becoming 3 new rooms that can be used by our students for a range of activities.

Benefits for our students

This design enables our teachers to have greater flexibility in creating spaces for the varied activities they teach. For example, they may require a quieter break out room for one-on-one reading, or a larger area where they are running an art project or science experiment across multiple classes. Through the use of partitions and glass sliders, our teachers have the ability to create the environment they need for each day’s lessons.

We know that this modern learning environment sparks students’ interests which improves engagement and achievement. The connections between the rooms allow our students to choose where they want to work and where they work best. For example, they may want to go into a breakout room to work with their peers on a group project or sit comfortably in the book area for some quiet reading time. This benefits the students as they can easily collaborate and learn from each other as previously walls and doors between rooms created a barrier to working cooperatively.

Preparing for their future

This design brings our school into the 21st Century (yes that’s how long it has been since this block had an overhaul!) We have not created an ‘open plan’ environment, but flexible innovative learning spaces. We are providing 21st Century environments that are future-focused and will prepare our students for their next steps at college and beyond as confident, capable and successful New Zealanders.

Noise levels

We don’t anticipate noise to be an issue at all (especially with our small class sizes). All spaces will be humming with students who are engaged in their learning and it will be a noise level that works for student learning and needs. Our teachers are working hard to teach and create cultures of respect and we are very positive students will respond to these expectations in their new environment. The teachers have the flexibility to create the required spaces to meet the needs of all our students.

Storage space

When we renovated the senior block we introduced a mixture of cubby holes and coat hooks for the students. This has worked really well with positive feedback from the students. You will be able to see on the plan numerous cubby holes throughout the block for all of our students’ bags and coats, as well as a number of coat hooks which will be in the entranceway.

After school pick-ups

We are now making much better use of the corridor space and three new rooms and this means that our families will need to wait outside the block at school pick-up time. Once the students move back into the Junior Block, the teachers will continue to bring the students out into the playground at the end of school to meet their families as they have been doing this term. Our teachers will, of course, continue to be available to talk to families after school and can bring you back into the classroom should you want to do this.  

Toilet block

We really tried to get the refurbishment of the junior toilet block included in the junior classroom block project.  However, the costs of doing this were significant and it was just not feasible for the Archdiocese to cover the funding for the toilet block as part of this year’s project. The toilet block refurbishment will be the third stage of the overall project (after the senior and junior blocks) and we are hopeful that this will be happening within the next 1 to 2 years.

Next steps

You will be invited to come and see the spaces in action next term so you can see for yourself our rich and engaging learning spaces where your children will be happy and achieving!

If at any stage you have concerns about any aspect of the new environment, please see Jennifer Ioannou directly.


Kind regards

Board of Trustees