Dear Parent and Caregivers

This is my penultimate newsletter for 2016 and the first for all the parents of next year’s intake of 300 Year 9 students. May I therefore take a moment to welcome all the newcomers to the Shirley family and to thank you all for your continued support and belief in our school.

There is much to report. Far too much for one simple newsletter but I will do my best to give you an overview of what has been happening and what is still to happen.

The Rebuilding of Shirley Boys’ High School

Many meetings have occurred and are still continuing with the Ministry of Education, the Christchurch City Council and with the Avonside Girls’ High School Board and senior staff. By the end of this year we will have gone a long way to working out what the shape of our school of the future will look like. While a lot of what is occurring is subject to a degree of commercial sensitivity, I can report that the planning so far indicates that things are working out just fine. The willingness of the City Council to work with us to allow access to the Eastern Sports and Recreation Centre, as well as the prospect of rebuilding a brand new school in an area with huge open space and established trees and natural fauna, is exciting to say the least.

By the start of next year the three consortia currently tendering for the job of construction of the new school will have been reduced to one. After that happens, it is my expectation that early in the New Year I will be able to give specific details about the new school. Initial ground work is scheduled to start in April 2017. At that time I will be able to invite parental input into some of the decisions that will still need to be made.

On the basis of all the work done so far, and of the extended research we have completed, I can make the following observations:

Our new school will reflect flexible learning options, ones where traditional teaching is able to co-exist with arrangements that are far more flexible Period length will grow, so that small teams of teachers can address the needs of individual students to a greater degree than what is currently possible. It is likely that our curriculum will expand, especially given the proximity of Avonside Girls’ High School.

Teaching will reflect the latest 21st Century expectations of academic and business leaders:

19th Century                                                   21st Century

Discipline                                                           Critical Thinking

Repetition                                                          Co-operation

Reading                                                              Communication, includes (literacy/numeracy)

Writing                                                                Connectivity Across all Disciplines

Arithmetic                                                          Creativity

Punctuality                                                        Compassion/Caring

I suppose if I was asked what the aim of the school is, from now, through to the end of 2018, I would reply and say it involves identifying everything we currently do well and which defines us as a school. This will allow us to preserve these things in our new school. We must also identify practice that we no longer feel is relevant for teaching and learning in the 21st century. We will eliminate these from the way we do things. Finally we must identify new practices that forward 21st century teaching and learning and build these into a Shirley Way that will feature prominently in the new school.

When we achieve these things, then we will be in a position to successfully transition into a new school, ready to begin a new phase in our school's illustrious history.

Roll

We are still in discussion with the Ministry on the establishment of a new zone and on maximum roll numbers for the new school. I will keep you informed about this process, but I can confirm with you that the Board has discussed the matter and accordingly has agreed to limit our roll to a number slightly more than 1200 students. This is in line with our current 2016 roll, allowing us the economies of scale that maximise resources for students while keeping us small enough to ensure we avoid the anomie associated with larger institutions.

Examinations

Finally the national examination season is upon us. All senior students need to be fully into examination mode with a minimum of two hours revision a day, six days a week. Any concerns must be addressed immediately through approaching your son’s teacher or form teacher.

Best Wishes

John Laurenson

Headmaster