124 | Expansion as school roll keeps growing They are building a large rectangle with nine classrooms, which are going back to the traditional style. Hornby High School: HRS Virginia Wright COMMUNITY Hornby High School principal, Iain Murray, had been in the Air Force and worked in health before starting a new career in teaching in 2004. He took up his position as principal at the Christchurch high school at the start of the second term of 2023, coming over from Westland High School near Hokitika on the West Coast. Hornby High is in a community with a high-equity index, (previously known as low decile), and Iain welcomed the opportunity to work in a larger school, with students from a diverse range of ethnic groupings, and in an economically challenged area, as he explains. “I grew up in Gisborne, in the Hawke’s Bay, in an environment where there wasn’t a lot of money around. They were hard-working people, but really struggled to make ends meet and with that comes a whole lot of social challenges, and I wanted to be in a school that I perhaps understood, and also, could perhaps make a difference. “ When Iain arrived, the roll at Hornby High School was around 800, which is the size the school was built to cater for. Since then, student numbers have increased such that they already have 1056 students enrolled for 2026. On a single Monday last year, 26 new students turned up for school. “Schools around Christchurch have all seen a massive growth in student numbers, partly due to families being able to join the significant number of immigrants who came in to help with the rebuild. Plus, the Hornby area now has a lot more medium-density housing, with up to 500 new houses going to be built over the next three to five years, all within our school zone,” Iain says. Iain is overseeing what will be a welcome transition from making use of four portacoms on-site, re-jigging timetables to find rooms for classes, using the building they have hired over the road from the school as a classroom, and using libraries and café spaces as needed to get students into a space where they can be taught. By March next year, they expect to have instead nine new classrooms, “which will go a long way to decongest the spaces and put them back to what they should be,” Iain says. “HRS are the contractors doing that through the Ministry of Education as a capital build, and we’ve already started conversations about the next building, given how many houses are being built. “Generally, we allow 1.5 children per household, so that’s quite high, even though not all of them will be secondary students,” says Iain. They are building a large rectangle with nine classrooms, which are going back to the traditional style with four walls and a door. Iain couldn’t be happier that the new spaces are not going to be the bespoke, openplan, noisy, challenging to teach in spaces, which schools around the country are working to change with the re-introduction of walls. As well as Hornby High’s new classrooms, the leaking roof of their pre-earthquake auditorium is being replaced by Modcom, with additional work to upgrade the fire system. They will legally be allowed 50 more students, for a total of 450 at one time for assembly and prize-giving. While neither initiative specifically promotes the pupils’ wellbeing, it’s all part and parcel of Iain’s determination to provide a healthy environment for his pupils, an environment where they can be successful both academically and socially, with enough room for everyone to thrive. For over 45 years we have been designing & installing heat pump systems for commercial & residential applications in Canterbury. If you want a system designed & installed correctly then please contact us! Pleased to be associated with HRS Construction on the Hornby High School project SERVICING CANTERBURY FOROVER 36 Brisbane Street, Christchurch 03 366 3952 / 03 313 8014 www.hartnell.co.nz SWITCHBOARD UPGRADES THERMAL IMAGING TEST & TAGGING COMMERCIAL & SERVICING LED LIGHTING 24/7 ON CALL The smart choice! EQ PHONE 03 384 0225 SMARTSPARKS.CO.NZ
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