Albany Senior High School, Auckland

Albany Senior High School is a state coeducational senior secondary school situated in North Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand.

Albany Senior High School
The school's main building from Albany Highway
Address
536 Albany Highway
Albany
Auckland 0632
New Zealand
Coordinates36.730°S 174.696°E / -36.730; 174.696
Information
TypeState coed secondary, years 11–13
Established2009
Ministry of Education Institution no.563
PrincipalMs Claire Amos
School roll903[1] (April 2023)
Socio-economic decile10Z[2]
Websitewww.ashs.school.nz
A learning common

Opened in February 2009,[3] it was New Zealand's first state senior secondary school, catering for students in Years 11 to 13 (ages 14 to 18) only; most New Zealand secondary schools traditionally cater for Years 9 to 13. As of April 2023, the school has a roll of 903 students.[1]

History

Albany Senior High School was established to cater for the population growth on Auckland's North Shore. It was the first new state secondary school to open in the area since Long Bay College in 1975.

Before its construction, there were protracted disputes about the siting of the school[4][5] which delayed the process, so that the school initially ran from the site of its sister school, Albany Junior High School.[6]

Classes

All classes except those which require other resources take place in large open plan areas called 'Learning Commons'. These spaces enable flexibility when planning and delivering classes, including the ability to combine two classes into one for some activities, combining similar curriculum areas, such as physics and mathematics and easy access to technology. Students can utilize mobile devices such as laptops and cellphones to edit Google Docs in real-time together. Students are able to use Gchat in class to ask and answer questions, and students are permitted to perform searches on Google to answer teachers' questions.[7] The teaching periods are 100 minutes long, twice the length of typical periods in New Zealand.

Every Wednesday, students engage in a 'community based' impact project. This involves performing an act for the community. Impact projects completed include forming a business, organising and performing a 'School of Rock' concert,[8] building a video server and digital signage solution for the school,[9] restoring local waterways,[10] designing, building and programming a robot for the Robocup competition and creating original artworks for the school.[11]

Open source

From 2009 to 2019 Albany Senior High School's computer network, desktops and staff laptops ran almost entirely on open source software.[12][13] The school's student management system is the only major exception, using a proprietary system due to the unavailability of an open-source system meeting New Zealand requirements. The school won an award for the 'Best Open Source Project in Education' at the New Zealand Open Source Awards 2010.[14][15]

References
  1. "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  2. "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  3. "New school and attitude to learning". Television New Zealand. 3 February 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. Thompson, Wayne (13 September 2006). "Plan for secondary school at Albany angers residents". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  5. McKenzie-Minifie, Martha (29 October 2007). "Ministry to look into Albany school delays". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  6. McKenzie-Minifie, Martha (8 July 2008). "$7m cost of temporary campus at Albany Senior High". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  7. Neale, Imogen (5 June 2011). "Schools set up for the Google generation". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax NZ. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  8. Vickers, Lucy (16 July 2009). "Albany Senior High is always rockin' on a Tuesday". North Shore Times. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  9. Coddington, Sarah (15 September 2009). "School notices are high-tech". North Shore Times. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  10. Honeybone, Lisa (8 June 2010). "Local students and council join to save eels". North Shore Times. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  11. "Impact Project". Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  12. Doesburg, Anthony (23 August 2009). "Anthony Doesburg: Students open to new source of knowledge". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  13. "Welcome to our machines". Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  14. "NZ Open Source Award winners announced". Press Release – New Zealand Open Source Awards. Scoop Business. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  15. "2010 Winners and Finalists". New Zealand Open Source Awards 2010. Catalyst IT. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.