Alfriston College Foundation Principal Announced

Alfriston College Foundation Principal

The Foundation Principal of Alfriston College has been appointed and is now working from the College’s office on the corner of Hill Rd and Newhook Lane Manurewa.

The Foundation Principal is John Locke, a highly respected and experienced Principal formerly of Kaitaia and Okaihau colleges in the Far North.

John Locke was also the Establishment Director of the FarNet project, a virtual school with 4500 students and 280 teachers. This experience compliments the Board of Trustee’s vision of establishing Alfriston College as the leading ICT College in New Zealand.

Alfriston College will also be “connected to the environment”. The College design embraces the environment providing real life learning examples ranging from transparent lifts to wetlands and forests.

The College will also be “connected to the community”. It will support a community centred facility with managed access to a gym and pool complex, to theatre, to workshops, sports-fields, and a wide range of learning programmes. The College will reflect community strengths such as the proximity to the botanical gardens and equestrian centres.

At the core of Alfriston College will be a culture of high expectation of students as learners and leaders. The curriculum will be geared towards the development of individualised self-paced learning programmes, where students are encouraged to move from dependant to independent learning.

Alfriston College Board of Trustees chairperson, Maureen Hilyard, says: “Alfriston College will be a hive of activity for its community and will provide complimentary facilities for other local schools.

"We intend to create a college that will be of benefit to its own students, local families, and students and teachers of other schools in the region. The College’s facilities will enable 'virtual education' to reach a national and international student-base. And as such, this Board is thinking outside the square,” Maureen Hilyard says.

John Locke supports this vision: “New Millennium colleges and secondary schools must grasp and apply the concept of connectedness. And Alfriston College will lead the way in this field. “It is important to get the basics of education right and this school will provide this. It will also be connected to the digital world. It will present innovative use of ICT to assist learning.

“Learning with ICT is easier because ICT can reduce time, skill and location barriers. When used wisely it aids comprehension and facilitates people to understand issues and concepts that were once complex challenges for many,” John Locke says.

When one considers building a school around new millennium technologies, the opportunities for students and the wider community are tremendous.

“The great thing is other Manurewa schools will also benefit. Alfriston College’s ICT facility will be leading edge. The College will also work with other schools to harness considerable resources (potentially 6500 students and 450 teachers) to provide this region with secondary education second to none,” John Locke says.

A similar model was set up in Northland, and John Locke led this initiative.

“The FarNet project brought together a virtual school of 4500 students and 280 teachers. It was extremely successful and brought much benefit to students and teachers in that region. We will build and advance on this model here, in Counties Manukau, from our facility being built at the Alfriston College site,” John Locke says.

Meanwhile, from October, earth and foundation works will recommence at the site of Alfriston College. The site is located on land bordered by Alfriston and Porchester roads in Manurewa.

The works are creating a building platform for Whare, multi-storied classrooms, gymnasiums, sports-complex areas, courtyards, auditorium, an administration centre, sporting and recreation areas.

Board Chair Maureen Hilyard says: “We welcome John Locke to our establishment team. With John on board, our community will be well served due to the skills and experience he brings to this vital Foundation Principal’s position.”

Alfriston College will open to Year Nine [Form 3] student in term one, 2004.

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