Immanuel College releases $13.5m Discovery Centre plans to benefit Year 10 students from 2023

From outdoor classrooms to spaces to inspire young entrepreneurs, Immanuel College has unveiled plans for a “world class” multimillion-dollar education centre.

The Discovery Centre will encourage collaboration between students and teachers. Picture: Immanuel College.

Immanuel College has marked a new era in the school’s history by unveiling plans for its $13.5m, two-storey Discovery Precinct due to open by term one of 2023.

The “world class” building will provide learning, leadership and enterprise facilities for senior school students – with a particular focus on Year 10 – through state-of-the-art technologies and flexible learning spaces.

It will also include a bridge to the existing senior school building, the award-winning Margaret Ames Centre, providing students, teachers and industry mentors a “real life” setting to learn and collaborate.

The Discovery Centre will have a strong focus on nature, with a variety of plants inside and also outdoor learning areas. Picture: Immanuel College

School principal Kevin Richardson said 75 per cent of the project site would involve landscaping and green space, under a “nature inside and out” approach, with a variety of plants inside and outdoor learning areas.

“A lot of it is gardens and social zones, then you’re bringing nature into the building... we will also have outdoor classrooms,” Mr Richardson said.

“It’s a pretty radical move away from the normal school development.

“It will allow a slight increase in enrolments but it essential provides better facilities for existing students.

“It has had a lot of student input.”

Year 8 student Lachie said it was a “fantastic” opportunity for future pupils, allowing them to hone their skills for “the jobs of tomorrow”.

A key part of the new development will be outdoor learning. Picture: Immanuel College

Mr Richardson said the centre would be central to the schools’ new program – Year 10: The Year of Discovery – where students will be guided to better understand themselves and prepare for their final years of high school and beyond.

He said it would be “more than just a building” and would usher in a new epoch for the school.

“It is not continuing to just do what we have always done in a new building, but teaching and learning in new ways, giving students innovative growth experiences and preparing them for life beyond school,” he said.

He believed the new centre would address the changing needs of Year 10 students “differently than we have in the past”, as they arrived from middle school.

School principal Kevin Richardson hoped for works to begin in late November this year. Picture: Immanuel College

“Year 10 is a significant year for transition, their needs from a learning perspective are quite different,” he said.

“It’s about helping them discover their future. Discover things about themselves, to discover a vision for where they might be (in the future).

“To discover how they can... help others and think about life quite differently.”

Other features of the centre will include 10 new “studio” classrooms, open to all senior students, a Business Enterprise Centre for young entrepreneurs to operate and finetune their ideas and expanded facilities supporting media-related activities, like podcasting.

The centre will primarily cater for Year 10 students. Picture: Immanuel College

It will also include a series of zones, across social, learning, collaboration and wellbeing.

Mr Richardson anticipated the project would provide “fairly significant job creation” but did not have specific numbers.

The project is currently out to tender and the school hopes to have the first sod turned by late November.

Mr Richardson said a number of older buildings, including for maintenance and storage, would make way for the project.