Expressions of Interest Sought for a Vertical School for Greater Springfield

Expressions of Interest are now being sought for the first vertical school in Greater Springfield, a project that could be open by 2024.

Springfield International School will offer an international education to students and will adopt a trailblazing, vertical, high-rise design, something that Springfield City Group Education and Health Services believes may be adapted by all schools built in the area in the future.

Photo Credit: https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/education/international-school/

Project Phases

The project will be divided into five phases. Phase 1 involves site selection / reservation and has bee completed. Currently, the project is in Phase 2. This involves a 3-month process collecting Expressions of Interest and selecting a project partner from among the submissions.

Phase 3 involves Consortium Development and lasts approximately six months. Once this is done, Phase 4 kicks in. This is a two-year Design & Construction stage.

The final stage, Phase 5, involves Commissioning & Systems. This is envisioned to be a 3-month process, just in time for school opening, tentatively in 2024.

International Baccalaureate Program

The school will deliver an International Baccalaureate program, aimed at providing 16- to 19-year-olds with internationally accepted credentials for entry into universities worldwide.

By the time the project is completed, the vertical school model would have reimagined “…what a school provides and how it functions… (forcing) educators and architects to consider how teaching and learning spaces must perform and how they might need to perform in the future,” Ms Noonan said in a statement to other press.

Meera Honan, the director of Springfield City Group Education and Health Services, said that the fee structure would depend on the final business case that the project partners will decide upon.

Initially though, the idea is to operate the school under a private, selective entry for 1,500 paying students in Years 7-12. Emphasis is being made to ensure that Greater Springfield’s student population will receive a facility worthy of being in one of SEQ’s biggest growth areas.

As a major growth area, Springfield has several attractions for first-time home buyers or young families looking for an ideal place to live, such as excellent lifestyle amenities and rail transport links to the city.

Greater Springfield has six state schools. Access to desirable school catchments is a major driver of real estate sales and here, the area does not disappoint.

Looking for a Partner

An experienced consortium partner for Springfield International School is now being sought. The call for Expressions of Interest is now open.

In a handout available for download from their site, potential partners are expected to “… be comfortable becoming an active member of the community of existing providers through ongoing participation in The Learning Coalition.”

Furthermore, the briefing document goes on to explain that the project may be delivered by an independent operator or joint venture structure formed specifically for the project.

Interested parties may visit the website.