Hadlow a modern learning leader

PROUD: Hadlow School principal Michael Mercer addresses students, teachers, parents and supporters at the opening of the $280,000 retro-fitted learning hubs. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Hadlow School in Masterton is the first school in the greater Wellington region to open a retro-fitted modern learning environment.

Bishop of Wellington the Right Reverend Justin Duckworth led a blessing amid swirling cherry blossoms and fresh spring winds and opened the $280,000 modern learning environment (MLE) before a gathering of students, teachers, parents and supporters on Friday.

Opening day speakers also included principal Michael Mercer, Trinity Schools' Trust Board (TSTB) chairwoman Tracy Voice and students Grace Hancox and Benny Wakefield, and among the audience were Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson and Lands Trust Masterton chairman John Bunny.

Mr Mercer said the opening was the fourth in his time at the school after the senior classrooms were retro-fitted over a 10-week period of construction that removed walls and enclosed a verandah fronting the block. Senior pupil classes were relocated to the school hall, library and other spaces in the school during construction.

The revamp had created a pair of learning hubs designed to cater for 110 Year 5 to Year 8 students. A similar retro-fit will be completed next year on the school's junior block of classrooms.

The changes also involved a re-working of the teaching role and the craft of teaching at Hadlow School, which was the first in Wellington to modify existing facilities to create an MLE.

"No longer would a class of children be doing the same work at the same time. The key instructional areas of the curriculum - reading, writing, and maths - would still be delivered in small-group or individual way, but learners could determine the order of the activities they had to complete each day and week," Mr Mercer said.

"The other major change would be the end of the single-cell model of one teacher with one class operating behind closed doors. Teaching would become collaborative with groups of teachers in a larger, open space, tapping in to each person's particular strengths and sharing responsibility for all the children."

The MLE comprises integrated, multi-purpose, variable spaces, he said, and inter-connected buildings with large spaces easily divisible into learning commons and break-out rooms. Integral to the hubs was a wireless information and communication technology system as well.

Hadlow School teachers and senior managers visited Auckland schools to view future-focused education, he said, and also visited Amesbury School in Wellington, which was the first new school in the capital city region to be built "in the modern style".

Hadlow and Amesbury schools had developed "a strong professional relationship", Mr Mercer said, and intensive development was undertaken with world-renowned educational expert, Mark Treadwell.

Hadlow teachers for the past three years had been trialling collaborative learning models, and this year the whole school became hub-based, Mr Mercer said.

The school also had hosted numerous groups of principals and teachers from Wairarapa, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Horowhenua and Kapiti Coast over the last two years, Mr Mercer said, as schools in those regions develop future-focused teaching and learning.