Queen Margaret College
| PROFILES
A new house and a new home The nearest many of us have to the boarding school concept is probably via the long tradition of fictional British children’s stories, stretching from ‘Tom Brown’s School Days’ to ‘Harry Potter’. At Queen Margaret College (QMC) in Wellington, however, an exciting new school story is about to begin in reality with the opening of its new boarding facility, Queen Margaret House. Indeed, the newly-appointed boarding manager overseeing this fresh chapter in QMC’s history, Bronwyn Petrie, is herself very familiar with the old-style British boarding school system. Originally from Christchurch – a city with its own long-established boarding school pedigree – Bronwyn is recently returned from several years managing a boarding house at the prestigious Bradfield College in Berkshire, England. And she has been looking
Bronwyn Petrie
forward to putting her hardearned knowledge and experience to good use for when the 40 room accommodation facility opens its doors to welcome boarders for Term 1, 2018 (just as School News goes to press). “It’s really important that boarders have a relaxed but structured atmosphere, with choices to be private as well as to join in group activities,”
Queen Margaret College’s new principal, Jayne-Ann Young
Bronwyn says. This is where the state-of-the-art Queen Margaret House differs markedly from the traditional British boarding school, Bronwyn explains. At Bradfield College, for example, younger boarders began in ‘quads’ (four bed dormitories), then moved on to twin rooms as they progressed through school; by contrast, QMC’s new boarders will have their own room right from the start.
“The way it’s been designed – with single rooms – gives the girls ‘time out’ space, as well as common rooms,” she says. Another big difference, not available to centuries-old traditional boarding schools, is that Queen Margaret House’s initial intake of young residents will themselves have an input and influence on how the hostel is run. Term 1 - 2018 schoolnews
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