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NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes has announced a new world-class high-rise school for inner Sydney, which will provide students with 1,200 new places.
The comprehensive new high school school, located on the corner of Cleveland and Chalmers streets in Surry Hills, will be for Year 7-12 students and is expected to open in 2020.
“Schools will need to accommodate an extra 269,000 students by 2031, 164,000 of whom will be in the public system. More than 80% of this growth will be in Sydney,” Stokes said in a statement.
It is understood that the school will have the equivalent of 47 traditional classrooms with open and informal learning areas, practical activities areas, seminar and presentation spaces.
The yet-to-be-named school is expected to have three science labs, a food technology unit, a design and technology workshop and a range of other studios and workshops to provide students with relevant 21st Century learning opportunities.
Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp was announced as the head design consultant and architect following a design competition run by the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Planning & Environment and the City of Sydney.
“This design stood out for its vision of a future-focused learning environment while preserving the heritage of this site,” Stokes said.
Cleveland Street Intensive English High School, which is currently on the site, will move to a purpose-built school on Mitchell Road in Alexandria next year.
The announcement follows concerns about overcrowding in NSW public schools, many of which are so stretched beyond capacity that the state’s shadow education minister has likened them to chook farms.
In August, documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws showed that more than a third of the state’s schools are full and 180 are over capacity.