High Trees Primary: Currumbin Valley residents oppose plans for ‘boutique’ school

A group of Gold Coast Hinterland residents are rallying against plans to build a boutique school in their rural suburb. FIND OUT WHY

A group of Hinterland residents are rallying against plans to build a boutique school in their rural suburb.

High Trees Primary is earmarked for a property in the Currumbin Valley and will be one of the first new schools built on the Coast in recent years.

The boutique school will accommodate students from prep to Year 6 in small classes, with a maximum of 99, supported by a staff of up to 25 people. It will be aimed at families unhappy with existing schooling options as well as bringing children who have been homeschooled in recent years back to the classroom.

However residents, led by former Labor Currumbin candidate Kaylee Campradt, are opposing the school, arguing it is inappropriate for the area, will generate too much traffic and that there is a lack of necessary infrastructure.

Spokeswoman Kaylee Campradt and fellow Currumbin Valley neighbours and residents stand in the driveway for a new boutique school they are opposed to in the Hinterland suburb. Picture Glenn Hampson

“This is a rural place and it is not zoned for education or commercial venues and there is no need for it given we already have a great local school,” she said.

“It will have a huge impact on what are considered the lungs of the Gold Coast (the rural Hinterland) and it would wreak havoc on our local eco system.

“The impact on traffic alone would be huge because the roads out here are not designed to have commercial operations and the immediate residents around here are disturbed you can just make an application like this.”

The project was submitted to the council for approval in late June and is yet to go before the planning committee for approval.

A report lodged with the Gold Coast City Council reveals the school will be built in four stages across a 4ha site on Currumbin Creek and will have classrooms created within the existing house on the property, as well as new buildings hosting learning pods, recreation and learning facilities.

A planning report notes the number of children being home schooled across the state has increased by 200 per cent in the past two years.

High Trees founder and director Marj Hartmann said she was aware of “locals who fear the idea of a school in their beautiful community” but insisted she and the team behind the school had done “comprehensive community consultation”.

Artist impression of the new school proposed for the Gold Coast Hinterland

“We deeply respect the Currumbin Valley community, and intend to be a positive and contributing part of its future. We have embraced, and indeed encouraged, feedback from all of the community.” she said.

“We hear the concern of some regarding having a school on their doorstep and we understand the concern around what it might feel like to have a school on your doorstep.

“We prefer to think of ourselves as a learning environment rather than a school, as we will not be what some people conjure when they think of a school: there won’t be a campus with lots of classrooms, rather our modest learning pods have been designed with the local environment in mind, intended to enhance the natural surrounds and appear as tree houses, there won’t be bells ringing, yelling, or huge numbers of children.

“Our intention is to open next year with a maximum of 36 children, and increase at our full capacity to 99.

Gail O'Neill. Picture, John Gass

“We have gone to huge measures to consider our acoustic impact, and can reassure the community that the extent of the impact we might cause will be the sound of joyous play here and there and for the majority of the time our children will be in small groups immersed in their discovery and learning.”

It comes as after years of calls for more schools to be built as the city’s population grows by 15,000 people annually.

State government data released in 2021 showed the city needed up to 37 new schools by 2040 to cope with the population increase.

Area councillor Gail O’Neill has met with residents and said she was aware of their concerns.

“They are concerned about the traffic and access to the property,” she said.

“The project is under assessment and will go through the notification period, during which anyone who has concerns can put a submission in.

“I’ve met with the residents and it is not in an assessment phase so we will have to wait until the council officers do their jobs and will give me a briefing.”