Education News

Carey Baptist Grammar School’s award winning middle school now open!

Carey Baptist Grammar School's new award winning middle school now open!

The Centre for Creativity and Collaboration; Carey Baptist Grammar School’s new award-winning Middle School building, will be officially opened today, Thursday 2 June, by former World Vision Australia CEO and Carey alumni, Reverend Tim Costello AO.

Founded in 1923, Carey is a co-educational, independent, Christian school with approximately 2500 students from Early Learning to Year 12, based in Melbourne, Victoria.

Chair of the Board, Tim Chilvers, and Principal, Jonathan Walter, are looking forward to marking this occasion with staff, students, parents and the wider School community.

While construction of the building, located at Carey’s Kew campus, was completed in 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns have delayed the opportunity to officially open and invite Carey’s wider community to visit and explore the new Middle School.

After two years with minimal onsite visitors, Principal Jonathan Walter says he is looking forward to welcoming members of the community on campus to explore the state-of-the-art learning precinct.

“We are delighted to finally be able to showcase the Centre for Creativity and Collaboration to our community. It represents a shift in educational building design and reflects a greater awareness of the important relationship between learning outcomes and the learning environment.” says Mr Walter.

“Students need to be equipped with skills and knowledge that will allow them to thrive in a constantly changing world. This new learning space offers students a nurturing and supportive environment to not only cultivate these skills, but also to forge strong learning partnerships and supportive social relationships,” continued Mr Walter.

Aptly named, the Centre for Creativity and Collaboration features glass panels and doors throughout, allowing visibility into teaching and learning areas, walls that can be used to display AV materials, and wide stairwells which double as group seating spaces for pastoral activities including House sessions.

The building has been designed around the following learning precincts and key learning spaces: Languages, Health and Physical Education, Community and Religious Education (CARE), Humanities, Maths, Computing and Science, and Visual and Performing Arts.
These learning precincts intersect throughout the building, connecting to classroom spaces called Learning Labs. Three specialist science rooms and 28 Learning Labs throughout all three levels of the building allow for hands on learning with state-of-the-art technology and learning materials.

“The new Middle School strengthens our teaching and learning program by providing teachers with dedicated spaces to make learning visible, and provoke wonder, curiosity and creativity. Dedicated collaborative spaces give students and teachers easy access to the tools, materials and resources they need, when and where they need them,” added Mr Walter.

Sustainability is an integral part of Carey’s strategic vision and was a core principle when designing the Centre. There are several features throughout the building that promote efficient use of power, gas and water, including an HVAC plant to minimise energy consumption, carbon dioxide monitoring, harvesting rainwater for irrigation and toilet flushing usage and solar cells on the roof to provide energy to the building.

In conjunction with Carey’s Business Office, Project Manager, Coffey Projects, and Architect, Architectus, Carey Middle School students and staff will be inspired to teach, engage and learn in the Centre for Creativity and Collaboration for many years to come.

For further information visit: https://www.carey.com.au/

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