Stawell Secondary College has begun the process of planning a rebuild, and the responsibility is not only in the hands of the architects.
Students also have the opportunity to voice their ideas and feedback on the school’s plans to create a more modern facility.
School principal Nick Lynch welcomed the collaborative approach.
“The school needs to be freshened up and this would create a really positive learning environment,” he said.
“Students can feel much better coming to school if they have a modern environment designed for learning.”
Year 11 students Brittany Inglis and Elissa Jess called for more outside areas where students of all year levels could interact.
“So we have come up with a lot of great ideas for outdoor areas, combining locker areas and for much bigger classrooms,” Brittany said.
”I am excited because the school is going to get a freshen up,” Jess said.
“We’ve got the students’ ideas and the teachers’ ideas and the community’s ideas- and we are using that to create a very efficient environment for everyone.”
And even younger students had their say.
Year 7 students Marcos Allen, Laura Hyslop and Montana Elliot attended the meeting with the architects on Friday, September 15.
“The architects introduced themselves and showed us examples of other schools they had worked on,” Marcos said.
“They explained to us how they were going to do it here and we got given a sheet and we put down our ideas.”
Laura Hyslop said the renovated school would mean a fresh start for her and her classroom peers.
“It will also bring a lot more students to the school and it will be very good for the town,” she said.
Montana Elliot said depending on when construction finished, she could experience a better learning environment in her latter secondary years.
“I am pretty excited,” she said.
“It will be really good to have while I am in Year 11 and 12- I will get that better learning experience, and to be able to show off our school better.”
Workshop Architecture will work on the project.
The master planning started last week and is expected to finish in six weeks- No date has been set for construction.
