Escalators and full-time chefs are among the luxuries students at ACG enjoy. Candice Reed reports
Up to 1000 more students can now enrol at Auckland's multimillion-dollar Academic Colleges Group (ACG) Parnell campus.
Prior to construction of the $27.9 million, three-and-a-half storey campus bordering Auckland Domain, the school turned away up to 100
students each year.
The campus will open officially next Wednesday, May 23, catering for students in Years 1 to 12. From 2008, it will take students to Year 13.
Built on land owned by the Bledisloe Estate, the new campus features amenities that include lifts, escalators, wide corridors, a large library, gymnasium, "sophisticated'' art, CCTV monitoring, science laboratories and a weight work-out room.
ACG associate principal Kim Harase says the purpose of the escalators, lifts and wide corridors is to ensure students and staff move comfortably throughout the campus.
"The reason why we've got an escalator is to get the students quickly from the ground level up to level one where a lot of the classrooms are,'' says Ms Harase. "It just means less congestion in the morning. ''
Three full-time chefs man the school cafeteria which opens at 7.30am offering students a healthy breakfast. "Not many students take advantage of breakfast as many of the parents drop them off just before lesson time. But a lot of students utilise the cafeteria for lunch and the afternoon break.''
Food prepared by the chefs on-site complies with healthy guidelines enforced at all schools. "That means no deep-fried food, no chips, no pies,'' says Ms Harase.
Although the school has always been an ACG campus, it was founded in 1998 as the Junior College of New Zealand, on George St, for middle-level students from Years 7 to 10.
High demand caused the school's administrators to assess extending it around three years ago, resulting in the new campus. The original George St building is still used.
