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BER funding ensures Highfields hall becomes a reality

It's been years in the planning - but work is now underway on Highfields State School's new multi-purpose hall, thanks to a combination of Australian and Queensland Government funding.

Artists impression of proposed hall

At the same time, Highfields is getting a major new resource centre - part of a $4.1 million capital works injection at the 774-student school.

The sense of anticipation expressed by Deputy Principal Greg Tucker and P&C Treasurer Bronwyn Cairns when discussing the project is palpable.

'It's very exciting. It's a lot of money coming into the school.

'Our goal was to have a multi-purpose hall that could be used for a variety of purposes, including community use. We didn't want to duplicate what was already available locally,' Ms Cairns said.

Founded in 1870, and located 14km north of Toowoomba, the school was ecstatic to hear they had been allocated $3 million under the Australian Governments building the Education Revolution program.

This, combined with nearly $1.1 million in State Government funding and an additional $200,000 raised by the schools P & C, has ensured their dreams of a new hall will become a reality, with construction now well underway.

'In the past, our end of year school performances have had to be done over two nights at the local cultural centre and we've had to limit the number of people attending Year 7 graduations.

'It's great that we'll be able to fit the whole school community into one place. Previously, we've had to cancel outdoor assemblies because it's been too cold,' Ms Cairns said.

Artists impression of proposed hall

The acoustically designed multipurpose hall, which will be capable of seating over 800 people, will have a performing arts focus complete with stage, dressing rooms and music and instrumental classrooms. A sports floor will also allow the hall to be used for a range of diverse sporting activities such as dance, karate, gymnastics and badminton.

The school's BER funding will also allow for the construction of a new resource centre.

Mr Tucker described the proposed resource centre as 'massive', being more than twice the size of the current library.

'It will be bigger than a four-classroom block and be very conducive to encouraging students to use all its facilities,' he said.

The resource centre will include a library and computer lab available to the public, teacher's resource area, workrooms, a multi media centre and meeting room.

The school has also received $200,000 in National School Pride (NSP) funding which will be used for classroom upgrades, including new carpet, painting, whiteboards, and security upgrading.

Completion on the new hall and resource centre is expected by April 2010.

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