The Sunshine Valley Gazette

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Suncoast Christian College offers teachers and students a first glimpse of world-class new campus building

“As the first glimpse of our new campus comes into view, we are reminded of what a crucial role our staff have played in the re-imagining of our school,” said Principal Greg Mattiske.

Teachers and students from Suncoast Christian College in Woombye, Queensland, will be the first to experience the school’s much anticipated new facility when they step inside its doors on Thursday 31st August 2023.

They will enjoy a sneak peek of the new primary school campus building ahead of its official first day of use on Monday 4th September. The preview of the new facilities will help teachers and students familiarise themselves with the new space before they begin classes at the Woombye campus.

Following the release of campus designs in 2021, Suncoast Christian College announced its move towards a more collaborative style of teaching. The new campus will offer the most advanced facilities on the Sunshine Coast, replacing classrooms with flexible environments designed to support the school’s ‘team-teaching’ pedagogy.

The classrooms feature a range of functional design features, such as bleachers, breakout rooms, curtain and acoustic treatments throughout the facility to facilitate a wide variety of learning modes allowing teachers to modify and tailor lessons to the specific abilities and needs of individual students and varying group sizes.

Teachers and teacher’s assistants will work together over two levels with students in groups of five up to 75, in years 1 through 6.

Suncoast Christian College Principal, Greg Mattiske, says the upcoming day is an exciting chance for teachers to envision how their classes can be enriched by the new state-of-the-art facilities while also showing students their new classroom setting.

“As the first glimpse of our new campus comes into view, we are reminded of what a crucial role our staff have played in the re-imagining of our school,” he said.

“By providing teachers with a collaborative, modern space that allows them to cater to a wide range of student needs, we are facilitating the best social, emotional, and academic outcomes for our pupils.”

With an approach focused on stage rather than age, the new layout will provide flexible and collaborative environments where the school’s team of dedicated Christian teachers will provide the best in contemporary education.

Heralded as a game-changer in educational design, the new building has been brought to life by renowned architects m3 Architecture who are known for pushing the boundaries when it comes to intuitive buildings and modern design.

Anticipation for the new look campus has been slowly building since the designs were unveiled in 2021. Since then, the school has continued to draw attention when it announced plans to offer individuals and families the chance to have their names immortalised into one side of the new primary school building, through the use of stainless steel laser-etched discs.

“It is an exciting time to see years of vision being brought to life in front of us, culminating in a state-of-the-art, intuitively designed building,” adds Mattiske.

“Now it is up to our wonderful educators to harness the building’s full potential for the benefit of each and every student.”

Founded on reclaimed farming land in 1979 as the Suncoast Christian Academy, the school’s first building was an old pineapple packing shed. It has since become a prestigious educational facility with almost 1000 students, boasting amongst the most advanced school buildings on the Sunshine Coast. The new campus is phase one of a 25-year master building plan as the school looks to add a further 100 students in response to a growing student population.