New High School in Bungendore

This high school is in a great location and desperately needed. The temporary high school is doing what it needs to, but has removed play space from the primary school. The high school kids also deserve permanent facilities. The central location means kids can still walk and ride to school. Please approve this plan and give our kids the school they deserve.

Subject: Strong Support for Proposed Placement of Bungendore High School

I am writing to express my strong support for the proposed placement of the Bungendore High School.

Having lived in the area for the past 20 years and now residing in Bungendore township, I believe this project will significantly enhance the local community. The use of this part of Bungendore will enliven an area that has seen reduced activity since the Council amalgamation and the subsequent staff reductions.

I also believe that the project will have minimal impact on Mick Sherd Oval, which is being supplemented by new fields to the west of town. The proposed site will be highly accessible for students from all parts of town to safely walk or cycle, a mode of transport that would be impractical for alternative sites further out of town. The additional staff presence will contribute to the social fabric of Bungendore, providing a contrast to the current trend of residents commuting elsewhere for work.

Education is pivotal to the growth of societies and should be central to our planning efforts. The proposed location creates an educational hub for Bungendore, placing the high school in the heart of town and in close proximity to the primary school. This will provide an optimal environment for our future leaders to learn and grow.

Thank you for considering my support for this important project.

The plan to build a high school has created much community division which has never been seen before in Bungendore.

You have divided our community and created hostility within bungendore with your desire to build the school on our common land even though it is our land an not yours - we want a high school sooner than later but racing ahead with an outrageous plan to build on OUR park is plain crazy.

This land belongs to the residents of Bungendore, please build the high school in an area that can grow with the community and can expand as the population grows.
The Mick Sherd Oval/Bungendore Park is a dedicated public recreation space. The park, common, memorial, pool & community centre are significant to Bungendore, taking these away will impact on everyone from mums walking their babies, those cycling or learning to ride on the wide footpath, dog walkers, picnics, or anyone wanting to kick the footy or exercise on the flat ground as we will not be able to use it in school hours. You now say that we can keep our pool - how do you expect us to believe you now? We have lost our community centre impacting childcare & health facilities. No feasible parking solutions have been proposed for the school, the traffic at the moment is a nightmare around the school. The closure of Majara St has greatly inconvenienced residents and it's closure is for no purpose. The park & common belong to the people of Bungendore and we are proud of our history, this common was established early in the 19th century.
We need a high school but not on our park - this is thefft.
If you can't build the new high school near the new sports hub why did you build the sport hub there? Surely building everything in one precinct is beneficial to the high school students - how are students supposed cross the busy kings highway to access the hub? Most kids seem to live in the new estates so wouldn't it make sense to build a school there so that kids can walk to and from school? Wouldn't it make sense to sense to have a school and sporting fields in one precinct? Isn't this obvious to you? I'm sure the other high schools that you are currently building have their playing fields in the school precinct - why should bungendore kids put up with second best? Currently our high school kids are jammed into portables and our primary kids have lost their play area - how long will this go on?
Building this school on our oval /common represents a loss to our community's way of life - the loss of our park, the loss of our green centre, the loss of Bungendore's history.

This is NOT the right site for our new high school - this has been going on for so long now please get it right this time.

This is not the right area to build a high school, it is a breach of the crown land Mgmnt Act to use any part of Mick Sherd Oval or Bungendore Park, it is a dedicated public recreation space. The park, common, memorial, pool & community centre are significant to Bungendore, taking these away will impact on everyone from mums walking their babies, those cycling or learning to ride on the wide footpath, dog walkers, picnics, or anyone wanting to kick the footy or exercise on the flat ground as we will not be able to use it in school hours. You now say that we can keep our pool - how do you expect us to believe you now? We have lost our community centre impacting childcare & health facilities. No feasible parking solutions have been proposed for the school, the traffic at the moment is a nightmare around the school. The closure of Majara St has greatly inconvenienced residents and it's closure is for no purpose. The park & common belong to the people of Bungendore and we are proud of our history, this common was established early in the 19th century.
We need a high school but not on our park - this is intergenerational theft.
If you can't build the new high school near the new sports hub why did you build the sport hub there? Surely building everything in one precinct is beneficial to the high school students - how are students supposed cross the busy kings highway to access the hub? Most kids seem to live in the new estates so wouldn't it make sense to build a school there so that kids can walk to and from school? Wouldn't it make sense to sense to have a school and sporting fields in one precinct? Isn't this obvious to you? I'm sure the other high schools that you are currently building have their playing fields in the school precinct - why should bungendore kids put up with second best? Currently our high school kids are jammed into portables and our primary kids have lost their play area - how long will this go on?
Building this school on our oval /common represents a loss to our community's way of life - the loss of our park, the loss of our green centre, the loss of Bungendore's history.
This plan has created much community division which has never been seen before in Bungendore - please build the high school in an area that can grow with the community and can expand as the population grows.
This is NOT the right site for our new high school - this has been going on for so long now please get it right this time.

As a parent and the president of Sutton Public School P&C I fully support these new plans and this location.
This school is very much need for children in Bungendore, Sutton and Gundaroo. This location and the new plans address concerns over the oval being removed for public use and provides the community with brand new facilities.
This location will allow the children to feel like part of the community. Being close to the main business area and therefore allowing them to get jobs in these businesses.

Bungendore needs a high school as soon as possible, the current site makes sense to keep the children central to the village and leveraging shared services.

I support the project. As a parent of 3 kids, one on which is in year 7 at the temporary Bungendore high school, I believe it is important for our children to be provided with first class school facilities. The current design for the high school seems to have addressed a number of the local residents concerns as well as providing the local community with facilities including a library and health centre. Our other 2 children current attend Sutton Public school will also attend the BHS in the future. I hope the school will be fast tracked so that the temporary high school is not over crowded and the more tax payer money is wasted upgrading the temporary school.

Unsuitable location, not future proof, will run out of space by 2036.
Poor quality plan, sub standard school and outcome, at huge cost
All my previous objections stand. I should not have.to.say them all again.
No oval? Are you serious?
This school needs to be located somewhere else, on the edge of town, with space and properly planned.
Do it once and do it right.
Stop this fiasco. You are unnecessarily congesting the town with a school that won't meet the needs of the children, and will be a waste of taxpayer funds with a short life and substandard outcomes.
Just stop. We have had enough. There isn't anyone that thinks this is a good idea. Put it elsewhere, and do the right thing by the community and students.

I fully support the project and the site

How many times do we have to make submissions to let the Dept. know that we do not want a high school on our park!
The proposed site is too small to accommodate future student numbers. There is no room for the school to grow. Bungendore has a growing population with large housing developments already approved.
There are insufficient car parking spaces available. At the moment teachers and parents are using the railway car parking area. This might not always be available to them. Also the congestion around the primary and high school at 9.10 and again at 3.10 is extremely dangerous.
The site would have an adverse impact on the Bungendore Park which is in the historic centre of Bungendore. A significant green space which needs to be protected from large scale development.
The demountable classrooms that are presently being used by the high school students are inadequate and therefore students have no sense of pride in their school. A new high school is urgently needed in a more suitable location. We deserve much better.

our children need this high school

I am so happy and relieved that this project will go ahead at the current location. The location itself is ideal for a number of reasons already highlighted in the development report. There is no other location more ideally situated for the amenity and benefits the current location provides to families with children already attending and planning to attend the school, especially those who also have children attending or planning to attend the Primary School or Preschool.

I am happy to see that the latest amendments directly respond to the misgivings of some members of our community about the loss of the community pool until a new aquatic facility is built at the Bungendore Sports Hub. I am glad to see the reiteration that the school will not be taking the Mick Sherd Oval away from the community, though it concerns me that this incorrect belief is is still perpetuated within our community. It is also heartening to see that these amendments eliminate delays from decision-making processes over approvals for the use of crown land and takes away the opportunity for a small community group to stall the project with more vexatious legal proceedings.

The design is clever, attractive and provides a pathway for future growth. Thank you for the hard work that has obviously been carried out to get this project started. I hope we will see the school completed as soon as possible!

Bungendore is in desperate need of a high school. Please promptly develop the new Bungendore high school.

The pool is in need of replacement and should be replaced. Retaining this pool should not influence the decision.

Mick Sherd oval is very very rarely used during school hours and this has always been the case. Utilising this asset during school hours will bring greater net benefit to the community who pays for it to be maintained. At the moment we have been paying for its maintenance while it has been under utilised.

The proposed location will bring efficiencies due to its central location, and the location of the existing primary school. I support the current location.

As previously advised, I strongly object to the proposed location of the new Bungendore High School. The location is too small for future expansion, encroaches on Crown land, requires a road closure and creates congestion for no good reason, takes community assets for little or no compensation and is proposed to be built on land contaminated with heavy metals. This site has no merit and has been demonstrated to not meet your own planning requirements. It will be more expensive than the previously selected site and not cater for future expansion without taking protected Crown land which was bequeathed to the Community and cannot be used for any other purpose. The change from a greenfield site to this "postage Stamp" was a political decision of a previous local State Member and has been soundly defeated in Court. Yet the Labor Govt persist on trying to force this abomination of a site on this Community. This is not Democracy in action and even when faced with a court loss the government is trying to wear down the Community. You need to build on a proper green field site to give country kids a facility that they deserve. The question one must ask is: who is profiting from this plan, because it isn't commonsense.

The proposed site for Bungendore High School is in an ideal location to ensure the high school is able to continue to meaningfully add value to the local community. The central location of the school within town will help students to continue to connect more easily with businesses and community groups, and continue to build relationships that enhance both student learning and strengthen the established relationships with these groups. Having the high school located within a short walking distance to the primary school will ensure that the relationship that is established between the primary and high school is strengthened and that both primary and high school students and staff are able to continue to benefit from the close proximity, both in terms of student learning and staff professional development, which will have a long term positive impact on the Bungendore local community.

The central location will ensure that students at Bungendore High School are able to continue to make use of the amenities in town as they are within easy walking distance. If the school were placed in a location outside of town or on the outskirts of town it would mean that students would potentially have to pay for buses to access the amenities in town, such as the basketball courts or tennis courts for sport. This would limit the access to sporting opportunities for students whose families could not afford to pay extra for participation in school sport.

Public schools are a community resource, and having one in the centre of town will only add value to the local community. Community groups, fitness groups, hobby groups, private businesses are all able to access school facilities outside of school hours for a small fee. By having Bungendore High School continue to be located within town, a range of groups will have greater options when looking for an appropriate venue for community activities.

Bungendore High School already exists in town. It is working hard to develop and grow long term partnerships within the local community. The proposed location of the school will support and enhance these efforts. Previous suggested sites are too far out of town and will unnecessarily hinder the ability of the school to meaningfully contribute to the local community.

I would like to express my strong support for the development of a High School in Bungendore. Our community, which has grown to over 3,000 residents, urgently needs this educational institution to better serve our children and families. Presently, hundreds of children must endure daily bus rides to Canberra to attend high school, a situation that is neither sustainable nor conducive to their well-being and academic success. Alternatively, parents are also driving their children where busses are not available, placing further stress on families.

Community Growth and Educational Needs

Bungendore has experienced significant growth in recent years, and with this growth comes the pressing need for local educational facilities. The population increase means that more families are choosing to settle in our community, and with them, the number of school-aged children has risen. Despite this, our educational infrastructure has not kept pace with the growing demand. The establishment of a high school within Bungendore is not just a matter of convenience but a necessity to meet the educational needs of our expanding population.

Impact on Students and Families

Currently, our children face the daily challenge of commuting to Canberra for their high school education. This daily commute can take a toll on students, both physically and mentally. Long travel times reduce the hours available for homework, extracurricular activities, and rest. Furthermore, the early departure and late return disrupt family life, making it difficult for parents to engage with their children’s education and overall development. A local high school would eliminate these burdens, allowing students to thrive in a more supportive and less stressful environment.

Maximising Community Assets

The proposal to share community assets between the high school and the broader community is a strategic and forward-thinking approach. By utilising existing resources, we can create a multifunctional space that serves both educational and communal purposes. This model of shared use will ensure that facilities such as sports grounds, libraries, and halls are optimised to benefit everyone. It will foster a greater sense of community by providing venues for various events and activities that all residents can enjoy.

Economic and Social Benefits

The development of a high school in Bungendore will have far-reaching economic and social benefits. Firstly, it will attract more families to our area, thereby stimulating local businesses and boosting the economy. Schools often serve as anchors for community growth, encouraging further investment in housing, retail, and other services. Secondly, a local high school will provide employment opportunities for teachers, administrative staff, and support personnel, further strengthening our local economy.

Enhancing Community Spirit

A local high school will become a focal point for our community, enhancing the sense of belonging and community spirit. It will be a place where families can come together for school events, sports games, and other activities. This central institution will provide a common ground for residents to interact, collaborate, and support each other. Moreover, students who attend school within their community are more likely to participate in local events and volunteer opportunities, fostering a culture of civic engagement and responsibility.

Reducing Environmental Impact

Reducing the need for daily commutes to Canberra will also have a positive environmental impact. Fewer bus trips mean reduced fuel consumption and lower emissions, contributing to our efforts to create a more sustainable and environmentally friendly community. A local high school will encourage walking and cycling to school, promoting healthier lifestyles for our children and reducing traffic congestion during peak hours.

Strengthening Educational Outcomes

Proximity to school is a crucial factor in student performance. When students spend less time commuting, they have more energy and focus for their studies. Access to local teachers and resources allows for a more cohesive educational experience, where teachers can tailor their approaches to the specific needs of their students. Additionally, the opportunity for parents to be more involved in their children's education is greatly enhanced when the school is within the community, leading to better academic outcomes and overall student well-being.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the establishment of a high school in Bungendore is an essential and transformative step for our community. It addresses the immediate needs of our growing population, enhances the quality of life for our students and their families, and strengthens the economic and social fabric of our town. The shared use of community assets will maximise resources and foster a stronger sense of unity and purpose among residents. I urge the decision-makers to support this crucial project and invest in the future of Bungendore, ensuring that our children have access to the education they deserve within the community they call home.

Thank you for considering this submission.

Submission to Advocate for the Immediate Construction of Bungendore High School (Application No SSD-14394209)

Introduction
This submission advocates for the urgent construction of the Bungendore High School, addressing and refuting objections raised by a vocal minority within the community. This school is essential for the educational development of our children and the broader growth of Bungendore.

Addressing Vocal Minority Objections
The most vocal objections come from a small group of primarily older residents resistant to change. These individuals do not represent the majority of Bungendore, particularly the parents of school-age children. The debate has been ongoing for too long, causing significant challenges for primary school students who lack adequate facilities. It is unacceptable that our children are being deprived of a local high school due to the resistance of a few individuals. The need for a high school is urgent, and we cannot wait any longer to break ground and begin construction.

Addressing Objections
1. Loss of Public Space and Heritage Concerns
o The concerns about losing public spaces and heritage sites are valid but exaggerated. The proposed high school site will still maintain a significant portion of the park for public use. The integration of the school into the park can enhance the area's utility, ensuring it serves both educational and recreational purposes. Additionally, any heritage elements will be preserved and respected in the school’s design.
2. Traffic and Congestion Issues
o Traffic concerns are addressed by proposed infrastructure improvements, including the potential construction of a new road adjacent to the railway line to replace the closed road. This solution will alleviate congestion and ensure smooth traffic flow around the school and surrounding areas.
3. Site Sise and Future Expansion
o While some argue the site is too small, the school’s design includes provisions for future expansion. Modern educational facilities are designed to be space-efficient and multifunctional. The planned site is adequate for the current and projected student population.
4. Lack of Community Consultation
o Contrary to claims, extensive community consultation has occurred. The process included multiple public forums, surveys, and feedback sessions. The objections primarily come from a small, vocal group resistant to change, not the broader community which overwhelmingly supports the new high school.
5. Environmental and Safety Concerns
o Environmental and safety concerns, including lead contamination, have been thoroughly assessed. Comprehensive remediation plans are in place to ensure the site is safe for students and staff. These measures will address any potential hazards effectively.
6. Impact on Existing Facilities
o The high school will coexist with existing facilities like the swimming pool and community centre. These facilities will remain accessible to the public and will be integrated into the school’s extracurricular activities, enhancing their use and maintenance.
Importance of Immediate Construction
1. Educational Necessity
o The absence of a local high school forces students to travel long distances, impacting their academic performance and social well-being. Immediate construction will provide a local, high-quality educational environment, reducing travel time and increasing student engagement.
2. Economic and Social Benefits
o A local high school will boost Bungendore’s economy by attracting new families and retaining existing ones. It will create jobs and stimulate local businesses. Socially, it will foster a sense of community and pride among residents.
3. Addressing the Needs of Future Generations
o Delaying the construction of the high school only postpones the inevitable need for such a facility. As Bungendore continues to grow, the demand for a local high school will increase. Building now ensures we are prepared for future growth.

Additional Considerations
At some point in the earlier derivations of the project, there was talk of replacing the road being closed with a road next to the railway line. Implementing this suggestion would likely settle many objections related to traffic and congestion, further strengthening the case for the current site.

Conclusion
The objections raised, while noted, do not outweigh the significant benefits of building the Bungendore High School. It is crucial for the educational, social, and economic future of our community. The time to act is now. Let us prioritise our children's education and the well-being of our community by proceeding with the construction of the Bungendore High School immediately.
This submission is made with the understanding that the majority of Bungendore's residents support the development of a new high school and recognise its critical importance to our community's future.

While it is disappointing to see the reduction in the Ag plot area. It is wonderful to see the high school site moving forward again. To avoid the disappointing outcome cause by a very small but persistence group of the community with the last DA process, can the entire application submission/ process be reviewed by an independent consultant to ensure if the small minded community group again chose to waste more time and take the next consent to the land and environment court the supporters of the high school will feel more at easy that all the boxes have been ticked, and a second delay will not be suffered by the school again.
Is there any confirmation by a relevant authority available for public view that confirms the plans as re drawn, are completely out of the crown land area.
Given there seem to an attempt by the local member ( Steve Whan) to appease this small community group by announcing today (25/06/24 via a media release) there maybe a a parallel report (?) / due diligence assessment of alternative site locations, Can it be clearly stated that any such report HAS NO impact to current application before the department.
As an adjoining land owner within the notification area of the high school, I totally support the proposal and look forward to the primary school getting their open space back.

I support the proposed location of the Majara/Gibraltar streets precinct, transforming the area into an educational hub for children in preschool through to year 12. This presents fantastic and unlimited co-ed and collaboration opportunities for the children and teaching staff. It also provides a convenient one-stop-drop off option for families of multi-age/school children. I predict the physical proximity of the schools will also foster considered and successful transitions for students as they progress across their schooling. The delays to-date have created much angst and uncertainty for Bungendore families and progressing a high-quality, well-planned high school facility is of utmost importance.

I would urge the planners to consider inclusion in their planning of this institution with a number of Bungendore families currently required to travel into Queanbeyan twice a day (=2 hours a day of travel) in order to access inclusive education for children with disabilities. I would also request that the harsh climate of the region is considered and adequate shade is included in the design of the indoor and outdoor facilities.

The site chosen is fine - plenty of excellent schools have been build on less land. The use of the oval is fine - goodness knows it's only the school kids using it during day time hours now (the oval has yet to be 'stolen' by the primary school even though they use it!). The capacity planned is fine - some parents will continue to send their kids to private school in Canberra.
Just move ahead with it already. The small protest group in Bungendore are mostly old bitter people in their 80s who are out of touch with the community and don't speak for people with school aged kids.