Co-location planning for Avonside Girls’ and Shirley Boys’ High Schools
Avonside Girls’ and Shirley Boys’ High Schools, two large, single-sex secondary schools, will relocate to a new site in 2019 and become the first co-located secondary schools in New Zealand.
D & G has supported both schools since the early phases of co-location planning to create a new structure that benefits both schools through sharing certain resources, while still allowing each school to retain its own identity and autonomy. D & G first helped the schools develop a joint, long-term vision, and has since led them in determining a multitude of other considerations. These considerations have spanned from teaching and learning methodologies to the physical design of spaces and configuration of facilities that will enhance the single-sex provision offered by each of the schools.
D & G is now working with the schools to develop the operational detail of how the co-located schools will function, and to explore possibilities for sharing staff, classes and procurement. Being the first co-location of its kind in New Zealand, the process to identify, understand and address the operational, legal and logistical components of this process has been particularly complex, and it will provide precedent for future co-locations.
