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Dear Parents
On Monday evening our Board of Trustees spent time reflecting on the school charter and in particular revisiting the Property Master Plan, which we had produced in 2009. During the process of developing the new Strategic Plan last year it was apparent that all sections of the community felt that there was a need to improve our physical environment. To that end the following Strategic Goal was developed:
To provide the optimum physical environment to support the school’s vision including the development of new teaching spaces.
I read a news report recently which highlighted a recent piece of research into the question “ Do Modern Buildings improve learning” I have reproduced it below:
“Two years ago, a project began in order to discover whether the fabric of school buildings has any effect on student performance and their attitudes towards education. Two schools in South Yorkshire, England, were selected. They were both similar in size and drew students from comparable catchment areas. One had been newly built and remodelled; the other was in desperate need of repair.
A survey of the students was revealing. Both schools used interactive whiteboards. However, in the school in need of repair, students saw them as a waste of money, while in the new school, technology was embraced. In the old school, students said the stress levels of teachers was directly affected by the classrooms in which they taught. Students in the new school were achieving higher results in examinations.
When principals are faced with a choice between text books and repairing a wall, they are always going to choose the books but the fabric of a building is also important. As one student put it, “You don't feel like trying hard in a building that is not nice.” Many things influence a child's education, from the quality of teachers to the support they get at home, but this study shows the importance of the buildings and classrooms in which children are taught".
Dr Ilfryn Price, professor of facilities management in Sheffield Hallam University's business school.
Reported by Sarah Freeman, Yorkshire Post, 12 July 2010
I am delighted to be working with a BOT who are committed to their goal of improving the environment in which our children and staff spend each day. Phase one of achieving this goal is now almost complete with opening of the ‘new’ junior school, however there is still much work to be done.
Contractors are on site today replacing and improving the field drainage system following the building work and when the field dries out we can remove the spoil from the boundary. We are currently receiving quotations for covering the space between the new classrooms to provide an area that the juniors can use all year round. This work, and the refurbishment of the remainder of the junior classrooms (Rooms 7-10), we hope to achieve in January, ready for the start of the new school year.
Of course it is not just the physical buildings that form our environment, the green spaces are important too. Over the past year our small team of gardening parents has made a big difference, particularly with their targeted working bees. As mentioned in a recent newsletter they also assisted me in gaining a significant grant from the Hobson Community Board, this will help build a new ‘boardwalk’ this summer adjacent to the Stirling Street boundary at the bottom of the ‘forest’ area.
Today a group of Year 3 children were working on the Trees for Survival unit; the new structure in the class gardens area. The Trees for Survival programme is run by the TFS Charitable Trust which promotes the growing and planting of native trees and shrubs. You can find out more about this initiative here www.tfsnz.org.nz
Our environment is an important factor in our children’s education and we are grateful for your support of a variety of projects both large and small at VAS, it really can make a big difference!
Kind regards
Allan Short
Principal
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Growing fit, active and healthy children.
