McAuley Community School, a Catholic school in the Mercy tradition, will cater for up to 530 students from Reception to Year 6 and the Catholic early learning centre will provide care for up to 90 children aged 3 to 5. They are expected to open at the start of 2020.
The estimated project cost is $22 million and plans include specialist STEM and arts facilities, together with a research and innovations centre.
“We are excited to be expanding our provision of Catholic Education in the south west of Adelaide,” said CESA director Neil McGoran.
“McAuley Community School and the planned Catholic early learning centre are part of our commitment to offer a Catholic Education pathway from early years through to Year 12.
“Together with our existing primary schools and colleges in south west Adelaide, we are building an even stronger focus on student learning and quality teaching.”
Project architect Kon Michael of Swanbury Penglase said the building design will be flexible to enable spaces to be “adapted easily and used in a range of ways” as needs change during the day.
“The entire site will be open and inviting,” he said.
The development is part of the implementation of the CESA Strategy for Leading Catholic Education to New Levels of Excellence.
The name of the new school respects the commitment of the Sisters of Mercy, founded by Catherine McAuley, to education and the community in the Brighton Parish for more than 102 years to provide quality services in education based on the values of respect, integrity, justice, compassion and service.
The school will be built on the former Marymount College site. Marymount amalgamated with Sacred Heart College at the start of this year and the students will relocate to the college’s Champagnat Campus at Mitchell Park at the start of 2019.
Students from St Teresa’s School at Brighton will transition to the new McAuley Community School and be part of the foundation enrolments in 2020.
Consultation will continue with local families, the parish and wider community in the months ahead. Families seeking further information are invited to contact Catholic Education South Australia on (08) 8301 6600.
Update November 2018:
Visit the new McAuley Community School website
Source: The Southern Cross
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