A concept design for the new AGE School to be built at Takapuna. Inset: Evan Christian, wife Katherine Allsopp-Smith and their children Branson, 6, Pearce, 5, and Bodhi, 3. Photo / Supplied
A concept design for the new AGE School to be built at Takapuna. Inset: Evan Christian, wife Katherine Allsopp-Smith and their children Branson, 6, Pearce, 5, and Bodhi, 3. Photo / Supplied
SummerReplay
A rich-list couple couldn't find a school to suit their son's needs - so they've built him a new one - at a cost of $10 million.
Property developer Evan Christian and interior designer Katherine Allsopp-Smith couldn't find an existing primary school offering the kind of education they wantedfor their gifted son Branson.
"Both Evan and I had academic success but neither of us enjoyed the school years because our respective schools didn't cater to our passions and interests," Allsopp-Smith said.
"We believe childhood should be happy and joyous, not boring and tedious."
Determined to create something for the now 6-year-old, the couple opened the Academy for Gifted Education in a Takapuna office building last year.
About 20 other students have already joined Branson in class but Christian and Allsopp-Smith have decided to widen the school's scope to include any children who can afford the $16,500 fees.
They have renamed it "AGE School" and unveiled plans to move next year into a retrofitted and fun $10m office building in the Takapuna business area.
Evan Christian and his wife Katherine Allsopp-Smith and their children Branson, 6, Pearce, 5 and Bodhi aged 3. Photo / Supplied
The plans show a huge net with foliage growing on it draped over the existing office block, a townhouse and a large central courtyard.
The students will exercise at the local YMCA and Takapuna Pool, read books at the local library and study the natural environment at the beach at the end of the road.
Takapuna's new AGE School won't look like a school, and the learning inside it will be quite different from most schools, too. Photo / Supplied
"That is the strong philosophy I have to integrate students into the community where they can make the most impact," Allsopp-Smith said.
"Children tend to learn a lot better in environments that provoke thought and inspire them. So the building is designed to provoke thought, inspiring different emotional responses as you move through it."
Allsopp-Smith, who was New Zealand's entrant in the Miss World pageant in 2000, said Branson was independently assessed as being "gifted" and robotics was his passion.
"We were unable to find a single school in New Zealand which offered a robotics programme for Year 1 students, yet in Hawaii he was allowed to enter into a programme for much older children rather than be limited by his age."
Interior view of the new AGE School designed by Phil Smith, of architects Collingridge and Smith. Image / Supplied
Christian said his dyslexic niece, now 11, cried on the way to school and came home in tears from four other schools before she started at AGE School last year.
"Three weeks ago she stood in front of 1000 people on stage at the Jane Goodall event and supported her friend making a speech," he said.
Steve Mouldey, sharing a drink with a student, Edward, says the school focuses on children's social and emotional development as well as academic learning. Photo / Supplied
School principal Steve Mouldey said AGE's small classes, with two fulltime and two part-time teachers as well as himself for just 20 students, allowed teachers to find each child's strengths and passions and design programmes for them.
The new building will allow the roll to grow to 50 across Years 1 to 10 next year and 180 up to Year 13 eventually.
"That's 15 students per year group - that idea of being in a small school where everyone knows each other, and if we get to know the student well we are going to be able to really personalise the learning," Mouldey said.
Foliage on netting will be retrofitted over an existing office block in Takapuna to create "thought-provoking" spaces for AGE School's students. Image / Supplied
Mouldey, a former Lynfield College deputy principal, said AGE School focused on children's social and emotional development as well as academic learning, and tried to make learning relevant to the real world.
"This term our focus was on sustainability, so our students were up at the Forest School on Monday and during the week they were researching and designing what we need to create proper shelter," he said.
Phil Smith's stunning design for the new AGE School will transform Takapuna's main street. Image / Supplied
"The Forest School was a client, the kids designed shelters and are now building some shelters up there."
The school is now open to any student, not just "gifted" students. It is a private school with fees of $16,500 next year, but is setting up a charitable trust to fund scholarships for those who can't afford the fees.
