Hagley High School

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30531, 28 August 1964, Page 10

Hagley High School

The merging of the Christchurch West High School with the secondary classes of the Christchurch Technical College in the new Hagley High School seems an excellent solution to a number of difficulties. It has been welcomed by educationists, as they were careful to point out, on educational grounds; but the taxpayer will note also that it offers sound economic advantages. The Christchurch West buildings and facilities are on the whole in excellent condition; and they should not be wasted by a running down of the roll while a new school is erected at great expense at Opawa or anywhere else, further, Christchurch West has an admirable location, one of the most central in Christchurch and particularly well served by bus services from a number of distant suburbs. It is prudent administration to make the best use of this land. A site somewhere else would be expensive, and the location would not be as convenient. While the people of St. Martins, Huntsbury, and Opawa may regret that they are not to have a high school within easy walking distance of their homes, they must realise that expensive schools cannot be sited in every suburb. They will also have the consolation of knowing that they will be able to make greater use of the parkland that would otherwise have been reserved partly for school purposes. Hagley High School offers a chance to develop one of the larger schools recommended by the Royal Commission on Education. It will start with the biggest roll in Christchurch, which should give it an advantage in staffing. That, in turn, will make for the better organisation of forms, with special attention, perhaps, to the more gifted children and to the less gifted. Such features, together with its central position and ready access to transport services, should encourage still greater roll numbers. If the opportunity for experimenting is wisely used, Hagley could soon have a special position among Christchurch secondary schools. Though it will be short of handy playing fields of its own, the proximity of Hagley Park is some compensation. The park, of course, gives the school a magnificent setting, which has a valuable influence on the tone of a school. The retention of the technical school playing fields in Ensors road in the meantime is wise, though it may eventually be found that they are too far away. The possibility of an exchange for suitable land nearer the school should be explored, because the organisation of sports for upwards of 1200 pupils will be a complicated business in the best of circumstances.