School ditches ‘barn’ classrooms

The multi-million dollar rebuild of Shirley Boys’ High School will eschew ‘‘barn’’-like classrooms, its headmaster says.

John Laurenson said the initial design for the school, which is under construction on the southeast corner Christchurch’s former QEII park site, emulated the openplan style of many modern school buildings.

‘‘The original idea was big spaces with 75 children and three teachers ... we’re not going with that model,’’ he said.

‘‘We have agreement from the ministry [of education] to build it to what we want, which is a combination of traditional and flexible space. We’re not going into a large barn space.’’

The school would have a mixture of closed classrooms and traditional spaces when students relocated from their current North Parade site in mid-2019.

Open-plan modern learning environments, also known as flexible or innovative learning environments, have been a source of controversy in recent years, with some educators and parents unconvinced of their merits.

A recent government-sponsored study found stronger correlation between ‘‘positive teacher mindframes’’ and better student learning in open plan classrooms, but said a lack of evidence meant it was ‘‘difficult to justify’’ the proliferation of such classrooms in New Zealand.

Shirley Boys’ High would still meet the Ministry of Education’s requirements for new school buildings to be ‘‘flexible learning environments’’, which includes not having load-bearing internal walls.

‘‘There’s still a degree of flexibility,’’ Laurenson said.

The rebuild will have Shirley Boys’ co-located with Avonside Girls’ High on an 11.5 hectare site, but operating separately. Part of a three-school, $220 million development contract held by ShapEd, the new campus will cost $80 million.

It would be sited less than 100 metres away from the Eastern Sport and Recreation Centre and share facilities including two theatres – one for 100 people and one for 800 – and a full-size hockey turf.

The $36.5m replacement for QEII Park, which suffered major earthquake damage and has since been demolished, will have a 25-metre lap pool, a 25m learn-toswim pool, recreation pools, a hydroslide and a fitness centre.