The Drennen Centre has opened its doors and provides a new learning and social space at the centre of the Wesley College Glen Waverley Campus.
A multi-storey student-centred hub, The Drennen Centre is the centrepiece of the campus redevelopment.
The Drennen Centre, named after Wesley’s first female Principal Dr Helen Drennen AM, features student facilities that include:
• The first on-campus dedicated chapel, featuring a striking façade.
• A spacious whole-campus library with dedicated resource areas for Junior, Middle and Senior School students, break-out areas, reading spaces and study rooms.
• A dedicated Year 9 precinct designed to prepare students for transition into Senior School (Years 10 to 12).
• Language classrooms fitted with acoustic and audio-visual equipment and specialist English Language Preparation Program classes.
• The Charlaftis Collaborative Learning Hub, a high-tech learning space and mini-theatrette.
The concept for The Drennen Centre, and the Middle School redevelopment as a whole, gives greater recognition to the transitions central to the adolescent middle years.
“We recognise our students as social, intellectual, cultural and spiritual human beings,” says Nick Evans, Wesley College Principal. “This redevelopment was our opportunity to create dedicated spaces for service, language learning and for our Year 9 students.
“The Year 9 precinct caters to the needs of adolescents at this important stage in their development, supporting them in developing independent study habits, preparing for transition into the Senior School and continuing the sense of independence and responsibility they have cultivated through the Year 9 Clunes residential learning program.”
Designed by award-winning architects at Cox Architecture, the development meets the school’s vision for a contemporary learning facility.
A spacious library houses dedicated resources for Junior, Middle and Senior School students, break-out areas, reading spaces and study rooms and is complemented by The Charlaftis Collaborative Learning Hub. The Hub is a high-tech learning space and theatrette designed for flexible learning.
“A carefully considered educational brief was behind the redevelopment,” Mr Evans said. ‘It recognises that learning is flexible. Students may be studying in groups or presenting to a whole class, or building roads and race tracks for robots on the floor. Cox Architecture consulted with staff and students, designing a modern and flexible space which very much aligns with contemporary ways of learning and teaching practices.”
The first stage of the Middle School redevelopment, The Wells Centre for Years 5 and 6, opened in 2018.
The Wells Centre provides a place for students to meet as a community and work in groups or individually.
Commencing in Year 5 at Wesley College offers each child a smooth transition from the upper primary years in preparation for Middle and Senior Schools.
The campus expansion has enabled the school to provide additional places for Year 5 and 7 students through the Glen Waverley Middle School Expansion scholarship.
“We have been thrilled with the calibre of students who have joined us through that scholarship already,” Mr Evans says. “The students have really been prepared to try new things, embrace the diversity of learning at Wesley and grasp opportunities.”
Applications are open for the Glen Waverley Middle School Expansion scholarship and others via the school’s website.