St Justin’s Catholic Primary School (Stages 1 – 3)

St. Justin ‘s Primary School is a new 840-student school in the south-west growth corridor of Sydney. The masterplan was developed through an iterative briefing process with the client and formed a continuation of ThomsonAdsett ‘s commitment to exploring and developing flexible and agile learning spaces to reflect and support the pedagogical approaches of the school and wider Diocese.

The masterplan developed from a desire for the whole site – indoors and outdoors – to be a learning space that reflects the cultural, social and natural heritage of the locale, in addition to the spiritual and educational philosophies that underpin the school. The architecture reflects the pre-existing rural location in ‘barn-like ‘ structures with large overarching roofs, providing shelter to a collection of elements and activities underneath. This is further expressed through a variety of material and detailing choices that pay homage to the region ‘s vernacular architecture.

The educational brief for St Justin ‘s Catholic Primary School, Oran Park called for “the provision of learning spaces that are open, flexible and welcoming to engage in meaningful learning experiences in a variety of settings. The learning space was to include areas for whole group, smaller groups and 1:1 experiences. Students need to be able to move to and from these different sized settings quickly and easily. ” This has been achieved by the inclusion of acoustically separated spaces using both glass for high visibility and operable walls with combination of glassing and acoustic pin board. Caves or breakout rooms have been provided with white boards and pin board for display of visual prompts and children ‘s work. Adequate storage areas have been integrated into the learning space in such a way that it is hidden from view in pinboard-lined cupboards.

The functionality of the building has met the challenges of the educational brief and provided a learning environment of which many schools are envious.