New hall will be the ‘capstone’ for Nambucca Valley Christian Community School

Once complete, the new building will seat 450, allowing for future growth, and making it the largest hall in  Nambucca.

“And we’ll be happy to rent it out for other purposes. It’s going to support the whole school community,” head of welfare and acting principal Tim Davis said.

Board member and project manager Howard Penn said the design of the auditorium will incorporate its intended multiple uses, including as an indoor sports facility, an assemblies and special events space, and a centre to support performing arts. 

The stage will be furnished with a disabled access lift, and state-of-the art sound, lighting and projection technologies, along with a purpose-built heavy duty theatre curtain and change rooms.

The hall will be air-conditioned, and link to the existing church building’s kitchen facilities.

Outgoing Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker attended the groundbreaking yesterday on behalf of his government which has contributed $1 million in funding to the $2.5 million project.

“The Federal Government believes in allowing students and parents to choose whether they want a state school education, or a non-government school education, and the increase in student numbers here is testament to the strong demand for the services the school provides and a faith-based education,” he said.

“These new facilities are all part of the choice which is now available to the Nambucca community.”

In six years the Nambucca Valley Christian Community School has grown from a population of just over 40 students to 263 (plus increased staff) at the last census date according to school business manager Lyn Sellers.

And the school’s powerful impact on its kids is evidenced by the number of former students who have returned to take a place at the faculty table.

It is hoped the hall, which school board chair Darryl Spriggs has called the ‘capstone’ to the five-staged, six-year school build, will be complete around Easter next year.

“We feel absolutely blessed that this has happened to us,” he said.

The new hall construction removes the largest outdoor area left on the school campus, so current students will have to contend with limited lunchtime space until term two, 2019, but construction workers are planning to down tools to allow the school’s first cohort of HSC students adequate thinking space for their exams.

Mr Spriggs said recent improvements to the school’s other outdoor tracts have tried to “capitalise on the given space and give kids the ability to engage with their environment in lots of different ways”.

“We don’t plan on growing too much bigger, and we’re trying to be smart with the space that we do have,” he said.

“And what we lose in space, we’ll gain in facilities, and hopefully the kids and the school community will realise that value in time.”

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