From left: College Principal Leela Hanson, Collectivité President Louis Mussington, Préfet Vincent Berton, Vice Recteur Harry Christophe, Vice Presidents Dominique Louisy and Bernadette Davis, Territorial Councillor Steven Cocks and slightly out of the picture Water Authority EEASM President Raphaël Sanchez on an inspection of the new administration offices. (Robert Luckock photo)
FRENCH QUARTER--Tuesday marked a significant milestone in the renovation of Collège Roche Gravée de Moho, or “College 600”, with the inauguration of eleven classrooms and several administration offices to complete a first phase of the project.
One of the new air-conditioned classrooms. (Robert Luckock photo)
For the occasion several elected officials expressed positive remarks on the achievement, including Collectivité President Louis Mussington, Vice President Dominique Louisy, Recteur Harry Christophe, Préfet Délégué Vincent Berton, and representatives of the parents association.
Students are able to occupy the new classrooms as construction and demolition of some structures continues for the College to be fully completed by the start of the school year 2025-2026. The project began in late 2022, early 2023.
Architect Didier Rouault and an associate gave an overview of the project in one of the air conditioned classrooms, explaining how they had to work around the students studying in prefabricated or container classrooms by closing off certain areas to separate construction site from study areas
Principal Leela Hanson was very enthusiastic about how the Collège is turning out.
“In addition to the remaining classrooms to be finished, we will have a new gymnasium with a Dojo, various sports installations, a new canteen, and specialised sections for workshops,” she explained. “Currently we can accommodate 416 students, but by the time new classrooms are finished next year we will be up 600 students maximum.
“We can accommodate children with special needs, and children arriving on the island for the first time who don’t speak French. We have an international section, a football section. One of the workshops is for industrial production and the other for maintaining green spaces.”
Mussington said seeing the progress made gave him great joy and satisfaction
“We have delivered on our promises for this Collège even though it is not fully completed yet. I want to thank the Gumbs family for making a part of their land available to place container classrooms away from the construction. It's also important to mention that this is a sustainable project so there will be green spaces and planting of trees to stay close to nature.”
Financing for the project came from the Collectivité, the State and European funds.
