St John’s Grammar releases video showing new $15m Belair campus expansion plan

St John’s Grammar has released a fly-through video of its new $15m Belair campus, revealing an arts hub and gallery and a tech centre. Watch it here.

It’s been almost four years in the making but St John’s Grammar School is finally ready to break ground on its new and improved Belair campus.

The $15m project has received official development approval with construction set to begin this week.

Works will include the extensive demolition of transportable classrooms, a single-storey building referred to as Carter House and the existing art building at the rear of the state heritage-listed Retreat House.

In its place, the school plans to build a new education centre, an arts hub and gallery, as well as a centre for technology and enterprise.

Concept images of the new St John's Grammar School campus. Source: St John's Grammar

Concept images of the new St John's Grammar School campus. Source: St John's Grammar

The proposal also includes the reconfiguration of the carpark, school access from Gloucester Ave and the removal of three regulated trees.

School principal Richard Anderson said the project marked the biggest infrastructure investment in the school’s history.

“Our enrolments have grown by 35 per cent over the past four years … and we will reach capacity next year,” he said.

“At the moment, we have just over 900 students but we will be a school of about 950 kids next year, with 580 students on the secondary side and 370 on the junior side.

“We won’t get bigger than that because we want to remain intimate with small class sizes, so these works are about improving infrastructure, rather than catering for growth.”

Concept images of the new St John's Grammar School campus. Source: St John's Grammar

Concept images of the new St John's Grammar School campus. Source: St John's Grammar

Mr Anderson said the project was first conceptualised in 2017 and would take about two years to complete.

“We don’t want to rush things as we don’t want to interfere with the (school) experience of current families, so we have to be smart about how we do it as the work is quite extensive,” he said.

“The total cost over the two-year period is going to be around $15m … which is a lot of money for our community but we’re really proud that we’ve been able to take responsibility (of the costs) without it being something that needs to be reflected in fee increases.”