West End State School (WESS) celebrated a major milestone today with the handover of the key to its new $25.7 million learning centre.

Member for South Brisbane the Hon Jackie Trad joined Principal Kim McNamara, the school community, Cox Architects, and contractor Hutchinson Builders, for the occasion.

Ms Trad said it was a big moment for the West End community.

“A decade ago, we were having debates as a community about how we could future proof our much-loved local school, which was feeling the pressure from significant population growth in 4101,” Ms Trad said.

“Together with the local community, we made a compelling case to acquire the Queensland Police site across Horan Street and to expand West End State School.” 

“And here we are today – it’s an amazing collective achievement.”

“This learning centre is nothing short of world-class,” Ms Trad said.

The centre has 16 new classrooms, outdoor areas and a new pick-up/drop off zone with 14 drop off spaces.

West End State School

Ms Trad said the centre has revitalised the school, giving students more room to learn and play outside the traditional classroom setting.

 “West End continues to be a fast-growing community and West End State School now has more than 1,200 students, so this project was a much-needed addition to keep pace with growth.”

The learning centre has been a collaborative project with Hutchinson Builders and Cox Architecture.

“Both done a brilliant job in bringing the building to life,” Ms Trad said.

Ms Trad said that the school community was also active in designing the building to make sure it best suited student needs.

“Importantly, the project supported more than 75 jobs and 37 apprentices during tough economic times,” Ms Trad said.

The new learning centre will be used by the more than 300 Prep and Year 1 students who will move into the building on 31 August. Furniture will arrive this week.

Principal Kim McNamara said students and staff were itching to get a sneak peak of their new classrooms.

“The project has not only delivered much needed additional space for our students, but brought the school’s vision of keeping our students actively engaged in their learning to life,” Ms McNamara said.

Ms McNamara said the whole school community had worked together since the concept design development through to today’s key handover to ensure support for the education direction for the students at WESS.

“Collaboration, flexibility and discovery are key themes, with a campus heart connecting the new facilities and our existing educational infrastructure.”

West End State School

All images supplied