New school to be built in the valley

Picture: Maddison Architects

By Jed Lanyon

The Yarra Valley will soon be home to a new School for Student Leadership campus.

The School for Student Leadership has plans to build a $7 million Yarra Junction campus that will house year nine students for 7-10 weeks at a time.

Despite sporting the name ‘Yarra Junction’, the campus will be located in nearby Don Valley, neighbouring Don Valley Primary School on Estate Road.

Mark Reeves, principal of the School for Student Leadership’s Alpine campus said, “This will be the fourth Victorian campus for our school.

“It will allow students to live at the school for a term, where they will undertake a program around personal development, teamwork, communication skills as well as creative and critical thinking.”

The school has been designed by Maddison Architects and Mr Reeves said tenders for the project opened on Thursday 25 July, with plans for construction to start by the end of the year.

He expects the school to open in 2021, which would coincide with the 20 year anniversary of the first School for Student Leadership.

Mr Reeves said the school will have students engaged in activities locally by utilising the Lilydale-Warburton Rail Trail, the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination, the Yarra River and other schools in the area.

“We want to be a small but valuable contributor to the community.”

“There is a growing student population in Victoria and an increased demand for this type of education… This type of education has to expand with growing education sector.”

Mr Reeves believes 15-20 jobs will be created when the school is operational.