A multi-purpose Community Sports Centre, a new Reception-Year 6 Primary School and an Early Learning Centre will be built at St Francis de Sales College, Mount Barker.
With a total investment of over $27 million, this capital development is one of the most significant ever undertaken by Catholic Education South Australia.
The project reflects the rapidly increasing population in the Mt Barker and Adelaide Hills region, and the growing demand for high quality educational opportunities.
“This is a significant development and demonstrates Catholic Education’s commitment to providing quality education in the Adelaide Hills. Catholic Education South Australia congratulates St Francis de Sales College on the announcement of their new development plans,” says Bruno Vieceli, Interim Director of Catholic Education.
“The exciting developments will provide improved opportunities for families of our region to continue living and learning locally in our Hills’ community, knowing that the education provided is supported by outstanding facilities and our progressive approaches to learning,” adds College Principal Gavin McGlaughlin.
A four court Community Sports Centre is in the final design phase and construction will commence at the end of the year with completion scheduled for the second half of 2018.
While the Sports Centre project will be funded mainly by the College, the benefits to the community are reflected in financial support secured at State and Local Government level - through the State Department of Sport and Recreation and the Mount Barker District Council.
Mount Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson said “Council recognises the significant community benefits that can be achieved by partnering with schools in order to provide required recreation and sport infrastructure. Council and St Francis de Sales College have a successful history of collaboration. The Community Sports Centre is an exciting extension of that and will provide a complex that will be widely used by the community for decades to come both during and outside of school hours.”
The College has established a partnership with the Eastern Mavericks Basketball Club and the Eastern Hills Basketball Association as its anchor tenants and looks forward to opportunities for discussion with other interested community organisations.
Plans to replace the existing R-6 Primary School with a state-of-the-art facility designed to enhance learning opportunities for young students will include an extensive consultation process throughout the remainder of 2017.
Construction of the new school is expected to begin in Term 3 of 2018 with students moving in during the second half of 2019.
Indigenous educators gathered for the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) in Toronto, Canada where Dr Roma Aloisi and Jonathan Lindsay-Tjapaltjarri Hermawan represented CESA and delivered an extremely well received workshop.
