School unveils new $3 million building and teases plans for new campus

The Scots School principal Mark Hemphill was joined by Albury MP Justin Clancy and Scots Foundation chair Geoff Wright at a ribbon cutting ceremony outside the new building on Monday, April 29.

The $3 million Senior Study Centre bordering Wilson Oval is designed to make studying easier for seniors preparing for end-of-school exams.

"I think it's going to make a big difference for our seniors," Mr Hemphill said.

"It will mean students will develop a culture of really being very serious about their studies, about having a place where they can actually be supported, where they can actually feel valued.

"Also for boarders as well, it will give them a really lovely place after school to do their homework and their study."

With construction starting in 2018, the new building includes silent study rooms, a common area fitted with a kitchen, and a collaborative study space for combined classes and exams.

"This is probably the first building project, I think, since we did the indoor sports centre in 2010," Mr Hemphill said.

"It just shows the community that the school is on the rise; we're now in a position that we actually haven't been in for a couple of decades."

Rolling on a projector inside the building was a walkthrough of the new junior school, planned to begin construction at the end of 2024 (see above video).

Caroline Pooley, The Scots School head of business operations, said the school received a block grant of $1.5 million for the project. However, the overall costs are expected to be closer to $10 million.

"If all goes to plan, we should be looking at turning soil at the end of the year," she said.

"In the first stage, (there will be) eight classrooms, some multi-purpose areas and learning streets, which will gives us the ability to flow out from the classrooms and have different integrations within our classrooms.

"In addition to that, we're also developing plans to refurbish our library, a major reconstruction, and that will house the remainder of our junior school."

"Instead of having the junior and senior schools split, they will be all on one site."

Mr Hemphill said the new campus would be located on the corner of Young and Perry Street.

"The new junior school is going to be completely changed," he said.

"We'll have a junior school which is a pavilion style design, lots of glass and lots of open plan learning.

"There'll be learning streets which go between the classrooms, a large multi-purpose hall, and then it will connect with the current senior school so that the administration for the school will all be in one place."

As part of the rebuild, the carpark will be expanded to have an entry and exit.

"At the moment, there's one way in, one way out," Mr Hemphill said.

"We've been working with the council to work on the safety on Young Street and this will make a huge difference to local traffic.

"The flow will be much better and it'll be much safer, not just for Scots families, but the whole Albury community."