Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
A proudheritage to create a vibrant future
Back in 2013 when the option to rebuild the colleges initially emerged, like others in our community, my initial focus was on what we could lose if we moved to another site.
Looking back, I suppose this is a natural reaction when you work in a school with a proud history and such a prominent position in the heart of the town.
The work at Marlborough Boys’ College (MBC) since the announcement has focused on exploring the best ways to achieve the opportunities that co-location offers, while ensuring the best deal for our current students.
This has resulted in us challenging ourselves around what a thriving community needs from their school in the 21st Century; how we continue to provide relevant development of our students into well-rounded ‘Marlborough Men’ of which we can be proud.
The initial conversations we have had with key stakeholders has confirmed for me what a special community we live in. The aspirations reveal a strong belief and understanding of the need for a holistic development of our youth and a deep appreciation that it takes a village to raise a child. The strong sense that education works best when it is as responsive and as ‘studentcentred’ as possible aligns well with our approach.
We are dedicated to realising a truly first-class education that will provide the right balance of focus on academic excellence as well as personal development and opportunities in the arts, sports, leadership and service.
Being co-located with Marlborough Girls’ College will ensure that our young men continue to receive all the benefits of a single sex college education while also providing increased extra-curricular and social opportunities to interact with girls at this vital stage in their development.
The potential for students at both colleges to have increased access to curriculum options and resources that their current college can’t provide alone will be fantastic for our future students.
As well as providing well for those who aspire to university, MBC has long been a leading school in providing workplacebased opportunities as part of the learning experience for our young men.
I amreally excited by the increasing connections that are being developed with the wine, forestry, tourism and aquaculture industries to ensure that what we continue to offer makes the most of the real environments and contexts that we know will provide strong potential employment opportunities for our school leavers.
At Marlborough Boys’ College, there is an increasingly infectious buzz of excitement amongst our staff and students about the opportunities that rebuilding the colleges will provide for the future of our region.
It has been great to have such a large number of our current students (who will mostly have left by 2021) leading the conversations about what school should look like for their younger siblings and ultimately their own children.
We are looking forward to more detailed work with children who are currently in Years 5-9 to ensure that they are fully involved and engaged in what will become their school as our first cohort.
The world has changed a lot since many of us attended school, however there are many things about growing up well that have not changed for generations; an important aspect of our work is capturing and transporting the aspects we have now that we know will continue to work in the future.
The rich history and culture of the college must be reflected in what we build for the next phase in our story.
We are truly fortunate to live in a part of the world where the environment lends such fantastic opportunities for all of us to grow, learn and explore our talents. The co-location will provide an exciting education hub for lifelong learning in Marlborough.
We encourage you to get involved this month in the conversations about the priorities for the co-location. This information will feed into the Education Briefs that will dictate the design of the colleges.
I amcertain that the passion, ambition and engagement we have in our region will ensure that we will provide a fantastic education for the next generation and equip our young people to thrive into their futures so that our region is ‘the best it can be’.