The Junior School Facilities
The Junior School at Macarthur caters for students from Transition to Year 4. A fence defines the Transition and Kindergarten area and has dedicated toilets for the youngest students. The play area for Years 1 to Year 4 is more expansive and open, with the major play space fenced. Again, dedicated toilets and a Junior Canteen are central to all students.
Students moved into Stage 1, the northern St Thomas building, accommodating Year 1 and Year 2 in 2023. Stage 2, the southern building, accommodating Year 3 and Year 4, were occupied for the start of Summer Term 2024 and are now fully operational.
The School has a planned, steady and measured growth in student enrolments occurring across the School. In the Junior School, an additional class was added each year commencing in Kindergarten a few years ago. As planned, 2023 saw the completed expansion of the Junior School with four Kindergarten classes and three classes in Years 1 to Year 4.
The School Council planned to renovate and expand the current Years 1 to Year 3 classrooms to accommodate the growth. This project commenced in January 2023, centred on the former Years 1 to Year 3 buildings, extending them to accommodate the three classes per grade. The new extended rooms now accommodate Years 1 to Year 4 in three classroom clusters. This work was completed in two stages at a total project cost of $6 million.
The School engaged the same architects and project manager as the Integrated Studies Precinct, with the resultant classrooms and collaborative areas providing outstanding learning spaces.
Initial conceptual planning has commenced for the construction of Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms to replace the demountable rooms. As much as the School would like to build more quickly, one project at a time is all that can be managed while housing students on-site safely and practically.
The Music classrooms have recently been opened, after undergoing a refurbishment and extension along the same lines as the Junior School buildings. Students moved into this space at the beginning of Winter Term 2024.
