Armidale's New Secondary College - Open Day

 

When Emily and Rebecca went to High School here in Armidale back in the 1990s our town had two public schools - Arnidale High and Duval. They naturally chose the latter which was much closer to home and they had a good time there. Emily even became school captain in her last year there. Sadly, the NSW government decided to merge the two schools. That meant the closure of Duval and the total remodelling of the other, which my wife Dorothy attended many years ago. In the process, the two became the Armidale Secondary College.

Duval was home to the secondary college during the reconstruction of the other, and that concluded in late 2000. Consequently, at the start of 2021, Duval closed ofr good and all senior kids who go a pubblic school now have to go to the site of the former Armidale High. Despite its population of just 25,000 Armidale also has 4 other private high schools! Despite this, the new school is now home to perhaps 1,200 students. Many residents we know have been clamouring to have an open day so that they can see the improvements made and to some extent memorise their past attachment to Armidale High. Well, yesterday (Saturday 8 May, 2021) awarded them with that opportunity and we arrive thre quite early to meet up with friends. Let's simply say that everyone we met was astonished by, and happy with, the new school, which we were able to amble around freely.

Above we can see two parts of the old Armidale High where Dot received her education, below there are several views of the many modern structures added to the portfolio.

The new school has pods of classrooms for each year of study. Two such class-rooms are shown below.

And each cluster of rooms seemed to have a break-out area where kids could meet and maybe have a cup of coffee or other drink and eat lunches. Dot is standing closest to my camera - a Google Pixel 5.

The next picture shows some sort of utility area where things are stored.

Here's what looks like a collection of canoes.

Going outside for a moment we saw a lovely view across town to Mount Duval in the background - one of the highest parts of New England at about 1,400 m. (or 4,600 feet).

And here's the college's agriculture facility, which had class-rooms, storage pens for presumably sheep and cattle (none present while we were there), and cages for chickens.

If I recall correctly we're looking at the home economics facility, equipped with cooking facilities, wood- and metal-working equipment and scienntific laboratories.

Below, we can see one of the staff members explaining to interested visitors the capacities of these laboratories and workshops. There was even a geological collection as shown of the right.

Back on the old building, we explored how it too had been reconfigured for the future. We were taken aback by its focus on music with rooms full of drums, guitars and pianos.

All in all it was a fascinating exploration of the new facilities and the reconfigured old ones. There was even a pop-up cafe where we bought drinks and nibbles.

AS