Two new schools for inner Brisbane

ONE of the first of two new high schools to be built in inner-city Brisbane since the 1960s will be in Fortitude Valley — and here’s what it will look like. SEE THE PICS

Fortitude Valley State School has become overgrown since the school closed under the Newman government.

• Schools sitting idle after failed plan

THE Palaszczuk Government has announced a $500 million plan for two new high schools in inner city Brisbane including at the site of the former Fortitude Valley state school.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Fortitude Valley school would open by 2020.

“We’re going to move swiftly because we’ve got these population pressures,” she said.

The high schools will be run in partnership with two of the state’s biggest universities, UQ and QUT.

They are the first new high schools built in inner-city Brisbane since 1963.

An artist's impression of the new school in Fortitude Valley.

The former Fortitude Valley school site, which was earmarked for sale by the Liberal National Party, will be restored, and a new school will be built in south Brisbane to ease pressure on Brisbane State High.

We believe in education so we're committing $500 million to the future of our schools including a new Fortitude Valley High School. pic.twitter.com/3hpuXzkU1f

— AnnastaciaPalaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 7, 2017

The second school will cater for the inner-south, with its base yet to be established.

Education Minister Kate Jones said Brisbane State High was the largest state high school in the country and the population growth in the inner south could sustain two high schools.

Additionally, West End State School will get an upgrade, with a total package of $500 million announced on Thursday for all three projects.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, whose electorate takes in the inner-south, said more than 5000 extra students had joined state schools in and around the Brisbane CBD in the past decade.

“This growth is set to continue with more than 3000 extra students expected to move into inner-Brisbane in the next five years.”

An artist's impression of the new school in Fortitude Valley.

Ms Trad said the Government had a couple of options for the site for its new inner-south school, but was “very confident” it would be in the current catchment for the Brisbane State High School catchment.

Asked about funding, Ms Palaszczuk said that would be revealed in next week’s Budget, but added: “This is what royalties are used for.”

She said both new campuses would be “high schools of excellence” thanks to their links with universities.

The Fortitude Valley State School has sat ­vacant since it was closed under the Newman Government four years ago under a failed asset sales scheme.

Fewer than 60 students attended the school when it was closed in 2013.

An artist's impression of the new school in Fortitude Valley.

An abandoned building at the Fortitude Valley site has become overgrown with weeds while it’s remained locked up for several years, sitting on land estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars in an area prized by Brisbane’s residential developers.

The former school site was saved from the auction block by the Palaszczuk Government in 2015, costing Education Queensland up to $50 million in funds.

Labor staunchly opposed asset sales during the last state election insisting the schools should be retained.

Ms Jones said the three, four and five-bedroom apartments catering for families were becoming more popular, particularly in the West End and South Brisbane area.

“The way that people are living in Brisbane is changing and we need to build the schools in the inner-city to cater for that growth,” she said.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls accused the Government of spending $500 million to fight off the threat of the Greens in Ms Trad’s and Employment Minister Grace Grace’s inner-city seats of South Brisbane and McConnel.

He questioned the planning that had been done before today’s announcement and the figures around overcrowding in those catchments.

“Obviously this is a panic move by a Government under threat in their inner-city seats by the Greens,” he said.