Ao Tawhiti

Ao Tawhiti or Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery (abbreviated "ATUD") is a state area school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was established by the merging of two separate Christchurch inner city schools; the primary school Discovery 1 (unofficially Discovery or D1) and the secondary school Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti (better known as Unlimited or UPT for short). The school is one of eleven schools running under the "Designated Special Character" criteria of the Education Act 1989. Students are given the flexibility to pick from a variety of interchangeable classes and subjects to design their own customised learning programme, including working on individual projects as an alternative to total classroom learning. They also have the option to learn subjects which are not traditionally taught in New Zealand secondary schools, such as philosophy, video game design, DJing and music production.

Ao Tawhiti was formed in 2014, by the merger of two schools which were each established by the Learning Discovery Trust. Originally they existed as two separate entities, known as Discovery 1 (primary) and Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti (secondary).

Under the direction and leadership of John Clough, the Alpha Learning Programme explored innovative and progressive learning theory in education for two years from 1993 onwards. In late 1998 (following the creation of a trial 'Learning Lab' at Elmwood School) an application to construct a new school based on this education theory was lodged before the then Minister of Education Wyatt Creech. The Ministry acknowledged the special character and granted it a special character designation.

Discovery 1 was established in 2001, followed by Unlimited in 2003. Both had been formed by Christchurch based Learning Discovery Trust.

Unlimited started with just 40 students (dubbed the "foundation forty") as well as 7 staff. It opened in January 2003 at its site on Cashel Street. The Southern Star Building was severely damaged, losing some of its front facade, as well as having a partially collapsed ceiling on the second floor. The building was demolished by 2013. The basement area was closed following the events, and buildings which were connected to this section of The Crossing were de constructed and rebuilt upon in the following years. Before demolition work began on the Unlimited buildings, John Mather (then the school director) announced that the school Board of Trustees had decided the school would not return to the site. Mather announced the school would consider rebuilding in the city in the future. Mather would retire from the role before rebuild plans were established.

Staff at Unlimited were presented with a Christchurch Earthquake Award in 2012 (one of 140 awarded to individuals and organisations nominated by the public) for the evacuation of hundreds of students from the city location, which was surrounded by damaged buildings and rubble, including the damaged façade of the Southern Star building itself. Because the schools were situated in the central business district (in what became the "red zone", an area made inaccessible to the public during demolition works) and due to the importance of the city environment to the style of learning and the student community, students at Unlimited and Discovery were significantly displaced. Unlimited and Discovery 1 were relocated to the Halswell Residential College campus in Aidanfield. Unlimited remained there throughout 2011 and 2012, while Discovery 1 continued to operate from the site. In April 2011, singer songwriter Imogen Heap visited Christchurch to play a benefit show for the school. It was her only performance in the country that year, and all proceeds went towards the future costs of rebuilding the school. In January 2013, Unlimited relocated to the premises of the former Christchurch Teachers' College in Parkstone Avenue, Ilam, which is now part of the University of Canterbury. They were located at the Wairarapa Block of the Dovedale Campus. The move was first announced in 2011 by John Mather (then director) who cited the lack of suitable spaces at the Halswell site. Mather retired from the role shortly after, where the school was then co directed by deputy director Tanja Grzeta and Alastair Wells (formerly a senior lecturer at Auckland University).

On 26 March 2013, Minister of Education Hekia Parata wrote to Unlimited and Discovery 1 with confirmation of a proposed merger between the schools. The decision was made as an outcome of the Ministry of Education's "Shaping Education" consultation. By January 2014, both schools would be merged into a single school for years 1 to 13 students. The school was temporarily named Unlimited Discovery Merged School. An elected board governed the school within three months after the process was completed. In early March 2014 it was announced that the Board of Trustees had settled on a new name for the school, Ao Tawhiti, with the motto "Unlimited discovery". On 15 April 2014, the Ministry of Education confirmed the name of the school as "Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery". From 2015 onwards, the school was split into two campuses bearing the names of each former school respectively, and continued to operate from the Dovedale campus following the merger, until 12 April 2019.

Plans for the school to the return to the Christchurch CBD by 2017 were delayed, in part due to difficulties in securing land. The school had hoped to rebuild on High Street on the site of the former Holiday Inn building, then owned by Carter Group, but negotiations fell through. A spokesperson for the school board described the setback as "devastating". On 24 August 2016, Nikki Kaye, then Associate Minister of Education announced that the revised site for Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery was to be 177 St Asaph Street. Building work began in late 2017, and cost approximately thirty million New Zealand dollars. In early 2019, Ao Tawhiti had received strong interest as it neared the completion of its new building; applicants were placed in a ballot system due to high demand for places. The school planned to start with 570 students and increase to 670 by 2021. Students and staff farewelled the Dovedale campus days before the first term of the year ended on 12 April 2019, marking the last day at the temporary site.

The Ao Tawhiti building was designed by Stephenson & Turner Architects, and developed with Lewis Bradford, Aurecon, Tokin & Taylor, Beca and Aecom, Masterguard, and project managed by The Building Intelligence Group. It spans over 2200 square metres and four storeys with 5800 square metres of space, designed to have a number of flexible spaces with interchangeable uses to serve up to 670 students. The ground floor is configured for technology and drama, with science and music facilities configurations on the first and second floors respectively. The technology and drama spaces are visible from street level, with the drama space doubling as a breakout space to the adjacent Mollett Street. The top floor houses a gymnasium and commercial grade kitchen. Each floor above ground level has a large north facing balcony. The building features a central atrium that provides space for assembly and performances.

Students can follow their own pathways of learning. The school uses the term "self directed learning" to distinguish between learning taking place in a class and learning driven or directed by the student outside of a classroom setting. Often called inquiry learning, this means that students can opt to work outside of classes and courses on their own passions and interests, drawing on resources and experts as needed. In practice the amount of time given over to this individual, and often independent, style of learning varies according to the interests and maturity of each student. Teachers at the school are known as Learning Advisors. They are responsible for running classes as well as running individual homebases, where they support each student. Each year, students are allowed to select their preferred homebase, which is distinguished largely by the learning advisor who runs it. One of the school's guiding principles is "everyone's a teacher, everyone's a learner", which removes some arbitrary hierarchy and contributes to the model of mutual respect between staff and students. The school year at Ao Tawhiti is divided into four terms. Students take courses in subjects for the duration of a term, or can enroll for longer periods up to a full academic year. Students are vertically grouped in homebases (similar to form classes). Years 7–13 homebases have up to 16 students in them and Years 1–6 homebases have up to 21 students. Teacher facilitated courses are offered for Year 1 – 6 children in all of the main subject domains. In addition, children are encouraged to carry out their own inquiries and to lead or opt into workshops or projects that are either initiated by themselves, other children, parents or teachers. From year 7 to year 13 a number of structured courses are offered and facilitated by teachers, and many of the courses contribute to achievement on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework such as NCEA. Classes are open to students of any age and students can work at whichever level of the curriculum that best serves their needs. Each student has an allocated weekly one to one time with their Learning Advisor. Mentoring is offered on some days in the morning and again in the afternoon. This time allows students to meet with subject teachers to get support on course based learning, independent based learning, and other curriculum opportunities not currently available in classes. The school is resourced with high end information and communications technology (ICT), all students have the opportunity to gain qualifications in the New Zealand National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). There are a range of secondary school subjects on offer including English, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences, Computing, Drama, Dance, and Physical and Outdoor education. In addition to these subjects, Ao Tawhiti offers a range of courses that are not normally provided at secondary schools. These include DJ performance and music production, Holistic programmes, Philosophy, Psychology and Game design. Courses provided by outside providers are also offered, for example Ao Tawhiti offers students the ability to participate in courses taught by Yoobee School of Design, ARA and The University of Canterbury. The school also runs a programme in cooperation with the Canterbury Ballet School.