$13M Education Upgrade for Tintern Schools
Education in Melbourne’s outer-east has received a significant boost with news that the Tintern Schools Board has plans to embark on a substantial building program.
The Principal of Tintern Schools, Mrs Jenny Collins, revealed that the school’s Board had approved in principle 20 new projects for its two campuses with a combined value of $13 million.
Included in the re-development package would be:
• A state-of-the-art, purpose built Early Learning Centre for girls and boys to be located at the Tintern Campus and opened in late 2010.
• Relocation of the Southwood junior school into a modern complex on the Southwood campus.
• A redevelopment of the Southwood Hall.
• Construction of a new synthetic sports field at Southwood.
• A new state-of-art Music Centre for the Junior Girls School.
• A new Social Centre for Year 11 and 12 students.
Mrs Collins said the projects reflected strong demand for Tintern’s new parallel learning model whereby boys and girls learn separately at different stages of their schooling – a system which international research had shown delivered more socially robust and confident young adults as well as enhancing their learning opportunities.
She said that an exciting new project would be the development of Tintern’s farm to become a leading environment/sustainability education centre in the heart of suburban Melbourne. More details would be shared on this initiative in the near future.
Mrs Collins further commented that despite the global economic downturn in 2009, parent enquiry levels were rising and it was clear that educating their children remained a priority – even in difficult economic times. With forecasts of an economic recovery this momentum would no doubt increase in the months ahead.
Mrs Collins said that any school which could boast 132-years of history such as Tintern could not rest on its academic achievements and the redevelopment package would take the school into a new era of growth.
Work on the first of these projects would start within the next few months.