Behind the scenes: what life will be like for Years 7 to 10 students at Evelyn Scott School

Behind the scenes: what life will be like for Years 7 to 10 students at Evelyn Scott School

If you’ve never been behind the scenes of a brand new high school before, the modern details are astounding.

There are no bubblers: they’ve been replaced with mini water stations where you fill up your water bottle. Students have access to microwaves for heating up lunches on cold Canberra days. And the food technology kitchens rival (or better) the kitchen you have at home.

 


The high school entry hub.

 

The high school buildings within Denman Prospect’s Evelyn Scott School are now complete and will open to students from Years 7 to 10 from February 2023. Little people have dominated the school since it opened in 2021 to students in preschool to Year 6 (P-6).

The new senior campus now completes the P-10 school. It was designed and constructed by Joss Construction and will cater for up to 1200 students across eight impressive buildings. The design incorporates sustainability at every level, including recycled materials, and energy and water efficient design systems.

 


The new gymnasium is suitable for roller derby, basketball, futsal, netball and volleyball.

 

Evelyn Scott School principal Jackie Vaughan says flexibility, collaboration, connection to the environment and technology are embedded in the blueprint of Evelyn Scott School.

“Research shows that children learn best in flexible learning spaces, allowing natural light, air flow and a connection to the outdoors,” she says.

“You can see contemporary engineering throughout the whole school, and that includes our open spaces for collaboration and project-based learning.”

The learning model at Evelyn Scott School is just as innovative as the rooms the students learn in, Jackie says. It’s underpinned by three distinct learning approaches: play-based learning in preschool, inquiry in the primary years and project-based learning in high school.

 


The break-out space between the art, metalwork and woodwork rooms.

 

This future-focused learning model aims to activate a student’s curiosity and invite investigation, collaboration and, most importantly, engagement.

“All schools in the ACT follow the Future of Education Strategy and we’ve been really lucky here at Evelyn Scott School to build that learning model from the ground up,” Jackie says.

Students at Evelyn Scott School are happy to share their facilities with the people of Denman Prospect and beyond. The 92,000sqm school site includes a sporting oval – suitable for soccer, rugby league and rugby union – that’s open to the community.

 


The new presentation space will be used to teach film.

Two cricket nets and two outdoor basketball/netball courts are available for public use, and the brand new double gymnasium is suitable for roller derby, basketball, futsal, netball and volleyball.

“Our school is about to become the central education hub for the whole Molonglo Valley,” Jackie says.

“We’re excited and inspired by the role we play in the community.”

 


View from the school forecourt to campus square, an outdoor area for the teenage students.

So, are the little people keen to welcome the high school kids to Evelyn Scott School at the beginning of next year?

“Absolutely,” Jackie says.

“There are so many opportunities to bring our older learners together with our younger learners – and that’s why I was so drawn to this position in the first place.

“We’ll have peer mediation, peer tutoring and peer mentoring programs, where we train older learners to work with our younger learners.

“That, to me, is going to be a really important part of the way we do learning and wellbeing at our school.”

Evelyn Scott School is open to the students of Denman Prospect, Whitlam, Molonglo, Coombs and Wright. For a tour of the high school facilities, please contact the school on 02 6142 3491.