New Technical College On Ensors Road Site

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30146, 1 June 1963, Page 12

New Technical College On Ensors Road Site

(from Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON, May 31.

A new Christchurch technical college is to be erected in Ensors road to cater for 800 to 850 pupils. It will stand on the 10-acre site now used as playing fields by the present Technical College.

Government approval for the preparation of sketch plans for a school of about 70,000 sq. ft. was announced today by the Minister of Education (MrTennent).

To conserve ground for recreation, the buildings for classrooms, workshops, and administration, will be of three storeys, and will cost more than £300,000.

“Because of the demand for advanced technical training, the point has now been reached in Christchurch, as happened in Wellington, Petone and Auckland, when the technical high school and polytechnic functions must be separately housed,” said Mr Tennent.

“The solution here is the same as reached at Auckland and Petone—leaving existing facilities solely for the polytechnic and erecting a new school on a separate site for secondary school pupils,” he said.

“This will give relief to Linwood and Cashmere High Schools, each of which now has more than 1000 pupils, and will relieve difficulties for pupils from the OpawaSt. Martins area who have sometimes had to accept admission to more distant schools.”

By offering the type of courses generally available, tjpe school would be on an

equal footing with other post-primary schools and its relocation would permit future expansion of the polytechnic, said Mr Tennent. Principal’s Comments

The diversity of roles in the present Technical College and the increasing weight of purely technical work made the establishment of a separate dayschool a welcome step; the principal (Mr D. W.- Lyall), said.

Separate polytechnics, or technical institutes, had long been customary overseas, but it had been convenient for technical colleges to undertake this work in New Zealand. Secondary schools in earlier years had not been keen to offer subjects with a technical bias in their curricula. The technical colleges had given a very good service, bht were becoming unwieldy, said Mr Lyall. Although no target date had been announced, it was likely that there would be little delay in preparing the new building programme, said Mr Lyall Discussions had been held with the Education Board, ancf th.e understanding was

that the new college should be a separate entity from the present Moorhouse avenue building, with its own technical equipment and installations.

No new name has been decided for the present Technical College. The board of managers would probably discuss this at their next meeting.

The secretary of the PostPrimary Schools’ Council, Mr P. J Halligan, said that the new college would certainly relieve the heavy pressure on Linwood and Cashmere High Schools. The Opawa-St. Martins area was not served by a local school, and neither of the nearest schools had been able to accommodate the numbers applying foj- admission.