Adelaide school’s $25m plan to upgrade its middle years campus, build a pedestrian bridge for its kids

A PRESTIGIOUS eastern suburbs school will spend about $25 million to expand its middle school — specialist classrooms and a footbridge are part of the revamp. Here’s what else is planned.

Pembroke School wants to build a footbridge over Shipsters Rd as part of its planned multi-million redevelopment.

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PEMBROKE School will spend about $25 million to expand its middle school campus, including a new multi-storey building and footbridge over Shipsters Rd.

The school has unveiled plans for a new science, technology and art centre at the old Kensington Centre on Shipsters Rd, which it bought last year for $4 million.

The proposed two to three-storey building would include six specialist classrooms and 13 teaching spaces, including science laboratories, technology workshops and art studios.

Pembroke School is located on The Parade, Kensington Park.

A fully enclosed footbridge over Shipsters Rd would connect the new building to Pembroke’s existing middle school campus under plans to be lodged with the state’s Development Assessment Commission before the end of the year.

Principal Luke Thompson said the centre would provide an upgrade to the school’s ageing science and technology labs, as well as open up space for 100 new middle school students.

Pembroke is planning a major expansion of its middle school campus.

Pembroke is planning to gradually shift its major student intake from Year 8 to Year 7 over the next four years, which will increase total enrolments to 1680 by 2020, from 1580 this year.

The middle school’s existing science and technology labs would be refurbished as classrooms to accommodate the new students.

“This (new) building will offer the best educational settings we can imagine,” Mr Thompson said.

Pembroke School plans to spend about $25m to expand its middle years campus.

Construction was expected to start in the “latter third” of next year and be completed in time for the start of the 2019 school year, subject to the commission’s approval.

The school would privately fund the project, with a “significant portion” expected to be raised through fundraising.

The project would be Pembroke’s most significant in years and is set to mark the first step in realising a wider 50-year vision for the school.

That vision — revealed last year by the Eastern Courier Messenger — included provisions for a 1700-seat theatre, two boarding houses, indoor pool, hockey pitch and multi-storey classrooms on Haslam Oval and a pool and a gym on the Kensington Park RSL site on the southern side of The Parade.

Work on the Shipster Rd project would also be done in consultation with Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council and Kensington Residents’ Association to plant new trees and landscape Maesbury Reserve, the public-access lane which runs from Hill St.

The association’s secretary, Andrew Dyson, was pleased the school was planning to work with residents on the project.

Mr Dyson welcomed the proposed Shipsters Rd bridge, saying it would address potential safety concerns around students crossing to and from the new building.