New Plan for Girls to Live Well to Learn Well

Roseville College has announced a new Sport and Wellbeing Centre to align the school’s facilities with its focus on the wellbeing of girls.

Principal, Deb Magill, says that being well physically and emotionally is essential for girls from Kindergarten to Year 12 to learn well. “It is well established that healthy students learn better – they are better able to concentrate and have higher levels of engagement in their education,” says Ms Magill. “We want our girls to be well as a whole person, and this includes self-care and physical activity, whether for fun or as elite sportswomen. It is about embracing healthy lifestyle habits as a foundation for well-balanced, happy lives.”

Plans for the new Centre, which is estimated to cost $26 million to build, include an outdoor court area to replace existing courts, a spacious strength and conditioning gymnasium, and an indoor swimming pool to allow year-round, all-weather learn to swim activities and elite squad training. The College’s existing outdoor pool, which opened in 1973, has reached the end of its life; it cannot be used during winter and is now costing a considerable amount to maintain.

The Centre will also feature a leading-edge nutrition and food technology space, flexible learning spaces, and underground car parking spaces for staff and students to ease the demand on neighbouring streets.

Ms Magill says, “The phrase I hear more than any other is that Roseville punches above its weight, and now we’ll have the facilities to match. The goal is to offer our girls a contemporary learning environment for health and wellbeing, where they can develop their personal, team and leadership skills in all aspects of living well.

“The College is welcoming alumni (our Old Girls), students, teachers, families and neighbours to be involved in the planning process. We think of our whole campus as a classroom and strongly believe the new Centre will benefit from the knowledge and input of our community as we work to make the best use of our site for our girls. The design builds into the natural slope of the land, the building line is in keeping with homes in the street, and landscaping will reflect the local character of our suburb, to which we are very proud to belong. The College has always been proud of its good relationship with our local community, and their involvement in this next chapter of our 111-year history is important to us.

“It is hoped that construction of the Sport and Wellbeing Centre will begin in mid to late 2020 for completion by the end of 2021, with funding through College reserves built up over time and from philanthropy and tax-deductible donations to the School’s Building Fund,” said Ms Magill.