Toowoomba’s Glenvale Christian School approved for campus expansion in 2023

It’s a tidy and relatively-new school that has enjoyed steady growth for two decades. But now it’s set for a major expansion as the area around it explodes in population. See the plans here:

A burgeoning Toowoomba school has laid out plans for a rapid expansion to keep pace with its fast-growing community.

Glenvale Christian School has been given the green light by the Toowoomba Regional Council to add new classrooms to its modest campus on the corner of Glenvale and Boundary Roads.

The new two-storey learning block with 370 sqm of floor space will accommodate an extra 26 upper-primary students, bringing the total school capacity to 199 students and 20 full-time equivalent staff.

Principal Brett Munro, who has been in the role since 2015 and teaching in Toowoomba for more than 15, said he hoped to break ground within a few months.

APPROVED: Glenvale Christian School has been given the green light by the Toowoomba Regional Council for a campus expansion including new learning spaces. Architecture by Struxi Design.

“Currently on campus we have 150 students, this will give us capacity to take us through to about 200 students,” he said.

“I would say construction will start early next year, for the classrooms to be used before the end of next year.”

Mr Munro said the school had enjoyed steady growth up until a few years ago.

“The school is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, but it had a long period of time where it was quite small and slow steady growth,” he said.

“In the past few years, that growth has accelerated, especially because of the local growth in the area, with all these new homes, a lot of growth on the western side of Toowoomba.

“It’s accelerated the growth of the school.”

Glenvale Christian School students Blessing Karogi and Kane Van Der Klay are excited for the expansion to their school, Thursday, November 10, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Unlike other landlocked Toowoomba schools that are experiencing growing pains right now, Mr Munro said GCS had barely used its nine-hectare site since opening the campus in 2003.

He said athletics ovals and further learning facilities are in the pipeline.

“All the grassy paddocks (behind the school are owned by us), the back fence of those houses is our boundary — it’s 22 acres,” he said.

“We’ll use all of it, next we have plans for an oval development on the other side — that will go from the front to the back fence.

“That’s the next application, so that’s not lodged yet, but that’s in our plans for the next year or two.

“We’ve got plans for additional buildings as the school continues to grow and we have the room to fit it in, because of the large property size.

“I’m really thankful for the foresight that the pioneers of the school had to buy such a large property.”