Toowoomba’s Glenvale Christian School starts construction on $2.5m classroom expansion through Newlands

A small school in Toowoomba’s western suburbs has started work on a significant campus expansion — but the principal has stressed it won’t change a core aspect of the school’s ethos.

Brett Munro and his team at Glenvale Christian School might have an extraordinary nine hectares of land to expand on — but he doesn’t want to lose its status as a “small school”.

“One of the biggest drawcards for parents is we are firstly a Christian school environment, but also a small school community,” the school’s principal said.

“Families enrol their children here because they want their child in a community that is not so big that they don’t know other people.”

The burgeoning faith-based primary school turned ground this week on a new $2.5m classroom expansion, the next step in a long-term masterplan for the campus.

The project, managed by Aspect Architecture and to be completed by Newlands, will create a new two-storey learning block on the western side of the school.

Starting work on a new two-storey learning building at Glenvale Christian School are (from left) Newlands general manager John Ryan and principal Brett Munro.

Featuring two modern classrooms and a flexible learning space upstairs big enough for assemblies and presentations, Mr Munro said the project would increase the school’s capacity to nearly 200 children once completed.

“The upstairs multipurpose area has been designed to be as large as possible to cater for assemblies, performances, presentations, but also to be used for a flexible learning area for any specialist subjects,” he said.

“Teachers can take their classes to that room if they need a bigger space.

“We’ve got a master plan for the whole school campus, and this is the next step in that long-term plan that brings in new classroom spaces that we need urgently.”

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

The next step in the master plan is already in motion, with the school lodging an application with the Toowoomba Regional Council for a new Olympic-sized athletics and sports oval and associated facility on the northwestern corner of the campus.

“One of the biggest advantages of our school is a large campus environment — we have 22 acres on the school property and we have surroundings the students can use,” Mr Munro said.

“We’re working through an application to develop that current natural land to use it for spaces for large sports fields that can be used for athletics.

“Team sports, individual sports, training activities before and after school (will all be catered for).”

Starting work on a new two-storey learning building at Glenvale Christian School are (from left) Newlands general manager John Ryan, principal Brett Munro and project manager Peter Browett.

But Mr Munro stressed the expansion wouldn’t lead to a dramatic school population growth.

“As the school grows, we look forward to having more families join into that culture, but we have plans that still fit within a small-to-medium school community,” he said.

Newlands general manager John Ryan said education projects were a major part of the construction firm’s current and future portfolios.

“Right now, we have four education projects on the go, and we’ve completed a couple this year already — we’d do anywhere between eight and 10 in a year,” he said.

“Toowoomba is very stable, we’ve been a part of that local building scene for a long time and we seem to be going from strength to strength.”

The new learning block is expected to be completed by September next year.