This week, Kristin School has seen a new pop-up centre exhibition located at the bottom of the Library Information Centre (LIC Foyer), where a temporary exhibition has been set up to display the future projects of Kristin School. Currently, Kristin School has over 1,800 students and is growing. It has grown considerably since my arrival at the school in 2011, with an enrollment of around 1,000. Therefore, it is without question that Kristin School needs to ensure that classrooms are able to meet the needs of the school, teachers, and students, as the school deals with ageing classrooms that often lack the sustainability of materials and energy that many of the new buildings in the school are fitted with. The latest additions to the school, such as TĆ«rama, the Humanities and Commerce Block, and the MS Atrium, all contain elements of sustainability as they were all built within the 21st century. This is much in contrast to the traditional heart of the Middle and Senior school, which is the Octagon. Currently, as a place where students can sit down for lunch and host market days and student-led band concerts, the Octagon has often been a place of significance for many students at the school.
However, as time has progressed, the Octagon is becoming old and outdated, and Kristin School has realised this. As the school endeavours to develop sustainably while meeting the needs of a growing population, it has decided to create a ânew Octagonâ that will replace the existing mathematics, English, and foreign language classrooms that currently exist on the existing site. This would mean a large new building that would likely be the new centrepiece of the school and would likely house a large number of classrooms. Therefore, CoS aims to work with Kristin School to help come up with ideas and solutions that would allow the school to ensure that such developments across the school would develop sustainably with resources and noise pollution all taken into account. As the new development would displace the existing classrooms in the Octagon, the school will move the existing classrooms into a new Gate Two building that will house the remainder of the classrooms.
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As a member of CoS and a student of the school, I believe that it is important to ensure that Kristin School can continue to grow and develop its campus to better fit the needs of the 21st century and, at the same time, ensure that all steps towards environmental responsibility are taken into account. Thus, whilst glancing at the temporary exhibition, I was very pleased with the idea of creating a new heart of the school and hope that the architectural firm involved will work side by side with the school to ensure that the ideas and hopes of students, teachers, and parents are all taken into consideration prior to construction.
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With time passing by, I feel it is extremely important to get involved with the existing feedback process, which is open to all students and teachers at the school. There is an exhibition that is open during regular school hours where students can get involved and share their thoughts about these exciting developments. We strongly encourage everyone to get involved and share their ideas.
