Grand design for new classroom at Our Lady Help of Christians

WHILE pupils at Our Lady Help of Christians School in Wendouree are back undertaking remote learning, when they return to the classroom they’ll get some face-to-face time in amazing new surrounds.

One of the school’s buildings has been reimagined into a multipurpose learning space, and it’s turning heads.

“Our original intention was to transform our building into a flexible, welcoming and aesthetically pleasing environment for our students to learn and flourish in,” said Leigh Bradshaw, Principal of Our Lady Help of Christians.

“I can safely say that our school community heartily agrees that the project has achieved this outcome.”

Funded through the Federal government’s Catholic Capital Grants Program, work on the learning space was completed in late 2019, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, students haven’t been able to spend a lot of time in the new facility.

That hasn’t stopped word getting out, however, with the space receiving two gongs at the 2020 Melbourne Design Awards including a gold in the Architecture – Public and Institutional category and silver in Architecture – Education.

When it came to constructing the space, there’s also a connection close to home.

“We were pleased to appoint a business from our local community as our builder, WM Flynn. This was particularly significant because Peter Flynn was a student here at Our Lady Help of Christians,” Ms Bradshaw said.