HUNTER Sports High students will be given maps to navigate their way around their new school next week, when classes start in the largest of three buildings to be constructed as part of a $45.1 million rebuild.
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Principal Rachel Byrne said the new T-block would open next Tuesday and include a breezeway with an outdoor amphitheatre, administration area, science laboratories, industrial arts rooms, domestic and commercial kitchens, wood work and metal work facilities, learning spaces and a support unit.
“There’s an element of excitement, but there’s also nerves and anxiety,” Ms Byrne said.
“This has been four years in the design phase and more like 10 years in the discussion phase.
“We have such a huge opportunity here to change the culture for the better. We have a very disadvantaged community that have lived and worked in not-favourable conditions in a school that needed to be rebuilt.
“When you’re in an environment that makes you feel welcomed and is an inviting space to learn, it can only set a much better tone. These resources will allow them to develop critical skills in a more accessible way.”
The building’s unique features include glass sliding doors between classrooms that can be opened for collaborative learning; seminar rooms; a variety of seats and desks; standing desks on wheels for teachers; and a combined staff room.
It has been built for environmental sustainability – with louvres in ceilings, solar panels, lights that automatically switch off between classes – and security, with closed-circuit television cameras.
The opening of T-block will mark a new era for the school, which has been operating on about 20 per cent of its footprint since January 2017.
The new U block is expected to open in September.
The new S block –which opened last November and houses 14 temporary classrooms – will then revert to an indoor netball and volleyball court.
The two and a half remaining original buildings are expected to be demolished within the next fortnight.
The existing stadium and covered outdoor learning area will remain.
The school’s capacity has dropped from 1100 to 850 students under the new configuration.
Ms Byrne said this change, coupled with growing interest, meant she was likely to have to limit year seven enrolments from next year to those who either lived in the catchment zone, or had been accepted into the selective sports stream.
The school has 780 students and is expecting its largest year seven cohort in recent memory in 2019.
Senior project manager Jennifer Bates, who led the redevelopment until she died, will be honoured with an outdoor learning area featuring a mosaic and flowers in her favourite colour, purple.