Plans for a new St Philip’s Christian College and Narnia Early Learning Centre at Charmhaven are now on public exhibition for community comment.
The $425M school will cater for students from Kindergarten to Year 12 and also incorporate an Early Education Centre and Prep program as well as a special school for students requiring an alternative learning environment.
It will be constructed over four stages and educate up to 554 students in Stage 1 and 1,583 students by Stage 4.
The school campus will also include: administration buildings; new junior, middle and senior school facilities; sporting fields and indoor/outdoor courts and facilities; a performing arts centre; a chapel; and a Dynamic Alternative Learning Environment (DALE).
Most of the buildings will be on the western portion of the 40ha site with a 240m frontage along Arizona Rd which will be the main entry point to the educational centre.
Another access point will be off Pacific Hwy to the east and the site also connects with Depot Rd/Charmhaven industrial area to the south.
This project, proposed by St Philip’s Christian Education Foundation Ltd, will generate about 225 direct and 275 indirect jobs during construction over a 10-year-plus construction timeframe, together with 199 full-time operational jobs for the school.
St Philip’s Christian College was founded in the Newcastle suburb of Waratah in 1982 and now has multiple schools across Newcastle, Port Stephens, Cessnock and Gosford.
The Colleges have been owned and operated by St Philip’s Christian Education Foundation Limited, a not-for-profit company, since 1985.
The Foundation identified a need for additional educational facilities in the northern Central Coast area and in 2020 purchased the site in Arizona Rd, Charmhaven, to develop the school.
St Philip’s Colleges have a strong focus on individualised student learning frameworks, innovative and engaging learning environments, and opportunities for students to excel in the whole of their life by opening pathways in the areas of academic excellence, information technology, STEM, music, creative and performing arts, sport, and vocational education.
The Charmhaven, Gorokan, Kanwal statistical area (which the proposed school will draw from) has nearly double the proportion of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people compared to the rest of the state.
St Philip’s encourages enrolments from Aboriginal students and supports extra-curricular groups which celebrate Indigenous culture through art, dance, and connecting with other Indigenous members of the community.
The DALE school, which forms part of the broader school, is a Dynamic Alternative Learning Environment for students in Years 3-12 who have a diagnosis of anxiety, depression, PTSD or Autism.
The expanded facility proposed as part of the project will provide for a total enrolment of 80 students.
This proposal is being considered by the NSW Government as a State Significant Development Application (SSD-14082938) because of its capital investment value of about $425M and full details can be viewed at the State Government’s planning portal – https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/st-philips-christian-college-charmhaven
Public submissions close on Monday, October 2.
Sue Murray