New start for old boarding house
Boarding schools are no longer places for toughing it out, but rather for high-speed wi-fi and nice furnishings.
Nelson College principal Gary O’Shea made the comments as the school marked the end of a multimillion-dollar project on Wednesday with the opening of a refurbished Rutherford House.
The college will now be able to accommodate 154 students at its modernised Rutherford and Barnicoat boarding houses, with the latter officially reopened at the start of last year.
It took five years and over $3 million of school funds to revamp the buildings, which were constructed in the 1930s.
Schools needed to modernise boarding facilities or walk away from boarding, O’Shea said.
The ‘‘pseudo-military view’’ of boarding ‘‘is no longer relevant, and certainly not attractive . . . for current families who are looking at where their sons are going to spend 40 weeks of the year’’, he said.
Because the buildings didn’t need earthquake strengthening or any other major work, it cost a lot less to refurbish them than to construct new buildings, he said.
The dormitories were now much more modern, and toilet and shower facilities were more private.
O’Shea said there would always be demand for boarding. ‘‘Rural life will always be there. There is a huge appetite amongst the international market, particularly Asia, for boarding schools, for that onsite care . . . and to live in a secure environment.
‘‘It’s no longer enough just to go to a boarding school and rough it out. [Families] want high-speed wi-fi, they want great heating, nice furnishings.’’
Mike Latter, who was a boarder at Rutherford House from 1956-59, was surprised to see a high-end kitchen in the former prep room where there only used to be desks to do homework.
The first students will move into the revamped Rutherford House at the start of next year.
The school’s third boarding facility, Fell House, will now be available for hire by sports teams 48 weeks a year.