Schools as Community Hubs: SA Chapter
10 Oct 2023
On 19th October, 2023, LEA SA held a half day forum at the recently completed Aldinga Payinthi College. This forum was focused on Schools as Community Hubs (SaCH) with special guests, Dr Ben Cleveland and Carolina Rivera Yevenes (PhD candidate) from University of Melbourne being in attendance.
Ben and Carolina are part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Project which the SA Department for Education are a funding partner. Ben presented an overview of the research program linked to SaCH and Carolina provided an update on her PhD research to date, which includes Aldinga Payinthi School.
Aldinga Payinthi College is a Birth to Year 12 School and was delivered under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. In addition to Aldinga Payinthi College, there is an almost identical Birth to Year 12 College at Angle Vale called Riverbanks College, which was delivered simultaneously with Payinthi.
Both colleges were opened at the beginning of Term 1 in 2022, and Aldinga Payinthi College currently has 750 enrolments from Birth to Year 9. The capacity of the College is 1675 and the College will have its first Year 12 graduates in 2026. Department for Education (DfE) developed a detailed brief focusing on the theme of Schools as Community Hubs (SaCH), which informed the PPP consortiums on their design for the Birth to Year 12 Colleges.
Some of the unique aspects of the College include the full integration of inclusive learning space within the college campus, all internal learning spaces having direct connection to protected external learning spaces, wider community access to the campus and the minimum use of fencing to the campus.
During the design process, Swanbury Penglase incorporated Connection to Country through First Nations artists and consultancy. As a result, references to First Nation culture are embedded throughout the landscape. Upon the appointment of Ali Colbeck as Principal, the inclusion of First Nations culture within the College was further enhanced through the graphic design work for the College branding as well as establishing an ongoing First Nation culture program for all students.
Following the presentation from Ben and Carolina, the 40-50 attendees were guided through the community spaces within the College campus by some of the Middle School students. The event concluded with a Q&A panel session with Ben, Carolina, Ali Colbeck (Principal), Andrew Phillips (Swanbury Penglase), Lee Sansom (DfE) and Komala Champion (YMCA).
A networking event followed the forum sponsored by Sarah Constructions was held at the nearby Agostino Wines. Thanks to our sponsors for the event, Sarah Constructions, Woods Furniture, Interface and BlueScope.
Article by: Andrew Phillips
Architect: Swanbury Penglase
Photography: Brad Griffin, Kon Michael
Ben and Carolina are part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Project which the SA Department for Education are a funding partner. Ben presented an overview of the research program linked to SaCH and Carolina provided an update on her PhD research to date, which includes Aldinga Payinthi School.
Aldinga Payinthi College is a Birth to Year 12 School and was delivered under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. In addition to Aldinga Payinthi College, there is an almost identical Birth to Year 12 College at Angle Vale called Riverbanks College, which was delivered simultaneously with Payinthi.
Both colleges were opened at the beginning of Term 1 in 2022, and Aldinga Payinthi College currently has 750 enrolments from Birth to Year 9. The capacity of the College is 1675 and the College will have its first Year 12 graduates in 2026. Department for Education (DfE) developed a detailed brief focusing on the theme of Schools as Community Hubs (SaCH), which informed the PPP consortiums on their design for the Birth to Year 12 Colleges.
Some of the unique aspects of the College include the full integration of inclusive learning space within the college campus, all internal learning spaces having direct connection to protected external learning spaces, wider community access to the campus and the minimum use of fencing to the campus.
During the design process, Swanbury Penglase incorporated Connection to Country through First Nations artists and consultancy. As a result, references to First Nation culture are embedded throughout the landscape. Upon the appointment of Ali Colbeck as Principal, the inclusion of First Nations culture within the College was further enhanced through the graphic design work for the College branding as well as establishing an ongoing First Nation culture program for all students.
Following the presentation from Ben and Carolina, the 40-50 attendees were guided through the community spaces within the College campus by some of the Middle School students. The event concluded with a Q&A panel session with Ben, Carolina, Ali Colbeck (Principal), Andrew Phillips (Swanbury Penglase), Lee Sansom (DfE) and Komala Champion (YMCA).
A networking event followed the forum sponsored by Sarah Constructions was held at the nearby Agostino Wines. Thanks to our sponsors for the event, Sarah Constructions, Woods Furniture, Interface and BlueScope.
Article by: Andrew Phillips
Architect: Swanbury Penglase
Photography: Brad Griffin, Kon Michael
