Santa Sophia Catholic College (New School)

To whom it may concern,
I am the Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Angels Church which is the territory which will provide the clientele to Santa Sophia School.
I can say with certainty that the Catholics of this area are opposed to this development happening in the town centre of the Gables. Our community furnished the CEDP with a petition with over 900 signatures on it asking for proper discussion and collaboration over the school site. There has been no true consultation with the people. The public forums, which were a response to our petitions presented us with a done deal and no room for negotiation.
Our objections are based on the fact that we have already made good provision for a school precinct on Terry Rd with 11 hectares. I understand the need for high rise schools in places where land is unavailable but why would you choose this when we have the land available to use. People who choose to live in cities may have to make do but we who live in Box Hill enjoy the great outdoors.
Only two reasons have ben given by the CEDP as reasons for the shift; To start by 2021 and to build the school in one whole work. The reality is that the date of 2021 is arbitrary, it has shifted numerous times from 2014 - 2019 - 2020 and the prospect of doing the whole school in one build is not necessary as a staged construction is entirely acceptable. We can develop Terry Rd quickly with the cooperation of local authorities.
I have asked Mr Whitby for some guarantee of developing Terry Rd in the future which he will not give.
There are many logistical problems that will occur with placing a school for 2000 students in a small zone, having to share one playing field with the local public school and any other entities who will be vying for the use of these "world class facilities". The staggering of arrival times and free time and sport and outdoor activities will be a logistical nightmare into the future that could be easily avoided by developing Terry Rd instead.
Other concerns are about safety for the children, being so close to a shopping centre. I believe schools should be safe by design.
I am committed to providing the highest quality of education possible for my parishioners both in pedagogy and environment.
I would ask that the NSW government reject this development so that we can utilise the space that has been provided and planned for since 2005.
Sincerely,
Fr Warren Edwards

As a parents with two young children who would potentially attend Santa Sophia, I object to the location of the school being located at the retail precinct at The Gables instead of the original planned site at Terry Road, Box Hill.

I do not believe that a shopping centre / district is a suitable location for a school. The staff have insufficient parking, there is no (or insufficient) parking for parents (without walking from the parking garage, which is not on site with the school). The kids will, according to the plans, need to walk through the shopping centre grounds to get to their school, and this creates SIGNIFICANT concerns around safety and commercialization. I am a very marketing-conscious parent and want to reduce the exposure my children have to inappropriate marketing (and there are many examples of inappropriate marketing that I have reported to various shopping centres over the years). Going to this school would mean that they are exposed to MUCH more than is currently the case and they are not able to discern what is appropriate or inappropriate. It just ALL goes in, and it does make a difference.
I also have concern about the actual facilities. There is very little outdoor space that is actually part of the school and a heavy reliance on 'shared grounds' (which may not always be available when needed, may be negatively affected by groups outside the school, and which will sometimes require children to cross a road to get to). This doesn't make sense to me. If we lived in downtown Sydney, I would accept that there is just limited space available and outdoor recreation may need to be curtailed. However, this is not downtown Sydney and I have a strong believe that running around and playing is actually quite important to a child's proper development.
I strongly disagree with the way this project was approached and submitted by the Catholic Education Office, as it has been the proposal for several years now that a school would be built on Terry Rd, where there is a substantial block of land already owned and reasonably ready to build on (yes, there are challenges with building immediately on this site, but there are fewer issues that I see around the issues I have raised above). There has been no actual consultation with the community (the people whose children will be attending the school) and what they want to see offered in the school. I understand that this is not the issue for the Council to deliberate, but still this needs to be voiced (and the CEO itself is not listening).
My primary objections to the project are listed above (having a school in a shopping centre being inappropriate, safety concerns surrounding young children passing through a public zone on their way to school, insufficient parking for staff and parents, hyper-commercialization and marketing exposure for our children, and insufficient / unreliable outdoor play areas). This project, from my point of view, should never have left the 'drawing room table'...

The Site is not suitable for the proposed development. Building a high rise school within the Gables Shopping Centre to accommodate nearly 2000 will present many issues, why take this option when a suitable land has been purchased in Terry Road in 2004, acreages where our kids can enjoy the outdoors not be stuck in a high rise building. In addition why overpopulate the shopping centre having a high rise school with 2000 student within a shopping centre will be a nightmare in traffic for parents and shoppers, this does not make any sense. Most importantly the safety of the children is a big point of concern, in an event where kids need to evacuate the school , the nearest location would be open space which would require student to cross the road and we are talking about 2000 children this will be a nightmare to manage and will be risky.

I believe this will be an unsuitable site due to the following issues:
EMERGENCIES AND SAFETY:
If is case of an emergency at the school, how and where are 2000 students of ages varying from 3.5 years to 18 years going to evacuate this building or area. They will be required to congregate OFF the school premises.
In the case of sporting activities, these will not be held on the grounds of Santa Sophia, this again leads to a great number of students having to cross roads. This is a danger to the students with cars, buses and delivery vehicles. There will also be danger to our children with the safety of the general public every time they attend their sporting lessons. This is a very big concern with the younger students in the school and those with issues when obeying and following out instructions.

DROP OFF, PICK UP, PARKING and TRAFFIC
I am very concerned also about the parking situation here and am lead to believe that there is only enough parking on the grounds for 25 visitors. Firstly with the Early Learning Centre, I am very unclear as to how the parents are to drop the children off at the Centre. It is extremely difficult to have to park in the shopping centre car park and walk your children over. Many parents will not only have students to walk with, but younger children (infants and toddlers). This provision of no parking causes a great deal of time and inconvenience strains on parents having to drop their little ones off as well as collecting them in the afternoons. They will be unable to exercise this via kiss and drop, as their children (and those in the younger years of primary school) will be in car seats and booster seats, therefore requiring an adult to remove them from the car. Taking into consideration with this, that there is only 12 car spaces provided for pick-up/drop-off. Should this buckling and unbuckling be something done by the teachers, this will also take up a lot more time, than has been indicated in the Traffic Management Plan. Please also note (for your reference) that the example used of St Marks, Stanhope Gardens is a terrible example of how you expect traffic to run. Firstly, their Early Learning Centre parents are able to park in the car park and attend to these matters themselves. Plus there are major traffic jams for more than 30 minutes both mornings and afternoons. I have also witnessed an Ambulance struggling to get through the traffic to attend a medical emergency at that school in afternoon pick up time.
I am unaware of how many parking spots are available to the school in the shopping centre, but please explain when there are events such as Award Ceremonies, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents Day, Feast Days, school interviews, school meetings, Easter Hat Parades, Book Week Parades where are the parents and caregivers to park? I am sure that as a member of the public trying to do my shopping or visiting the shopping area, I will not be too happy to be unable to access parking due to a school event.
CHILDREN'S SOCIAL and HEALTH WELLBEING
If the children have limited time to play in the grounds "offsite" then this will limit their freedom to exercise. I am concerned that this "offsite" sports facility will not be exclusive to the students of Santa Sophia and therefore limiting their access to the grounds which will result in the limit to their time on sporting fields and their PDHPE lessons and subject curriculum requirements. I am also concerned that their students general recess and lunch times will be limited to indoor areas. This is extremely terrible conditions to put our students in. For the record, Free Range Chickens have more outdoor time and more space allocation than we are expected to give to our children for 14 years of education in this precinct.
I hope that the Department will exercise your responsibility to the care to not only the youth of our community (especially when another 11 hectare site is available anyway) as well as the general public who will have to deal with parents and school children and added traffic. I hope that this Plan is not approved so that the Youth of our community will not be robbed of the freedom of safety and growth.

I don't believe a school should be located at a shopping centre.
With no private fields to utilise on such small size land when there is an approved location that is 5 times bigger and can accommodate growing demand of school kids in the growing box hill location

I object to the proposed development of a new Catholic education precinct at Fontana Drive Box Hill North. The proposed development is not in the public interest on the basis that there is an alternate location at Terry Road which would be more appropriate for a school of this size. The proposed school will burden the neighbouring areas, including the shopping centre, open spaces and housing. The school would be reliant on the use of the adjoining open space and would need to enter into agreements for the house of open space areas for sporting activities. The alternative site in Terry Road is approximately 10 hectares and would not required such agreements. The multi level learning areas would restrict the movement of children and thus enforce a prisoner syndrome where they become captive in a small space. This inhibits the interaction between siblings and could cause emotional problems. The design of the school is such that there could be no recess and lunch time sporting activity. There is also no direct access to outside areas. The school grounds will have little to no solar access, especially during mid-winter. The proposed development will result in an significant increase in traffic flow to the surrounding area with an expected 120 vehicles per 10 minutes during peak times. There is no provision for visitor parking . Allocated staff parking is proposed in the shopping centre car park adjoining the school. The number of spaces proposed does not cater for all teaching staff. There is insufficient drop off and pick up spaces to cater for the school at full capacity. Only 10 kiss and drop spaces are being provided. In the event of a whole of school activity eg parent/teacher interviews, awards nights, concerts, special assemblies etc would burden the shopping centre and surrounding streets. The proximity of the school to the shopping centre is a safety issue. In an age of 'stranger/danger' I can't believe that this idea is being floated. At a time when major shopping centres like Westpoint and Westfields have introduced a no students policy during school hours building a school on Shopping centre doorstep is asking for trouble. There is no way that the school can monitor the activity of the children and strangers when they are away from the school zone. There is no safe evacuation point that can accommodate all occupants in an emergency. The nearest location would be the public open space which would require the students to cross the road. The development of the Terry Road site would give the children what every Australian child deserves - a safe place to learn, open spaces with sunshine and wind in their hair, access to nature and freedom to explore. These things are not available in high rise buildings. Studies show that people who live or work in high rise building suffer many health issues. We do not want this for our children - time enough when they grow up and can make this decision themselves. When there is an alternative space, free and clear, that meets the needs of what a school in Australia should represent, why would you saturate a densely populated area if you do not have to. The proposed school development does not allow for expansion. This development is being proposed in the middle of a growth area except in the area of the school. When you have 10 hectares of open space there is room for enormous change, growth and freedom of expression. I hope that the councillors do the right thing, remember the good old school days. This is Australia, not New York - It is Western Sydney, not the CBD. We do not need to build high rise schools in an area where we still have market gardens up the road and people living on acreage. When Australia runs out of land then we might have to compromise our children's freedom of activity but not until then.

My objection to the proposed school is primarily based on it not being placed at a suitable location. A shopping centre is not a suitable place for a school of that size being circa 2,000 students. This is will result in a high density learning environment.

This is not necessary. The Catholic Church previously purchased land in excess of 10 Hectares on or around 2004. The purpose of this land included that of building a future school. The location in Terry Rd Box Rd is more suitable for a large school without creating a high density school environment. The Terry Rd site would enable inclusion of its own sporting fields, enable safe student access and adequate parking facilities for teachers and parents.

I am concerned that the proposal for locating a school in the Gables shopping centre doesnot adequately provide for school dedicated sports fields, parking and safe student access.

The school should not be built within the precinct of The Gables.

Once the school has been built there will be no room for expansion. As the years go by, should there be a need for renovations or improvements or the structure of schooling changes, this will impact on the students and their space for learning.

There is going to be major issues with TRAVEL and PARKING. There is only 25 parking spaces at the school, for the whole school. There is only 10 spaces for kiss and drop. Is the whole school, including Early Learning Students (Preschoolers), expected to catch public transport or go via the kiss and drop area? Children under the age of 7 years will all be in car seats and will require an adult to be present to unclip, or in the instance of leaving the school clip the children into their car seats. With 60 Early Learning Students and then an amount in Kindergarten, Year 1 and some in Year 2, in this age bracket, that will be a lot of children requiring assistance to get in and out of their cars. The other alternative is expecting the parents to park in the parking station within the shopping complex. Has this time been taken into consideration when you have been presented with your traffic report? That is a lot of children having to alight their vehicles within a short amount of time. What stress of traffic will this have on the community as well as those trying to complete their shopping or visits to the shopping complex?
**Teachers are expected to park in the parking station within the shopping complex or apparently even ride their bike to school. Firstly, can we expect the teachers to be living within riding distance to the school, riding their bike every day to school and finally not bringing any support material with them or from school, as they will be expected to carry this on their bikes.
**There are a lot of safety issues with the expectancy of travelling to and from school for both students and adults. All will have to get from the school precinct to the shopping centre precinct and vice versa for parking. It is a great expectation on the school community that they are ALL going to be using public transport. There will be a lot of movement between the carpark and the school. Will there be an isolated walkway or bridge so that the students will not be in any harm of buses or cars?
** Please also consider the public who have to park in the shopping complex and share the parking with school parents and/or students.
Exiting the school building should there be a SAFETY SCARE. How effective will it be for more than 2000 people (students and teachers) to exit the building should there be an emergency. It is unsafe to them expect the adults in charge to have to take the students out of the building, through the school grounds and then across the road to the safety points. How safe, and how quickly, will it be for those students who will be located on the upper levels of the building to reach safety?
How safe will it be for this amount of students to be travelling on stairwells in an emergency? How safe will it be for three quarters of the school having to get to the upper levels for normal classes? and the movement at the end of the day and the morning?
These children are expected to remain in this building from Early Learning through to Year 12. They will not have sufficient outdoor areas for 2000 students to be able to access the school grounds for lunch and recess. For their specialised sport lessons (for High School students) possibly three times per fortnight the students are expected to travel to an adjoining sports field. Is this field for the use of Santa Sophia students ONLY? If this is not the case, then the school will not be entitled to the grounds, WHERE WILL THEY HAVE THEIR SPORTS LESSONS?
Please use your position in Planning to thoroughly research this endeavour and make the correct decision not only for the public but for the students who will be expected to learn in these restricted conditions.

As a parent, I object to a school that is made as part of a shopping mall. The shopping mall distracts students as it negative to their development. In terms of children development, nothing is like an open space to run and play as children should do.
The Box Hill allocation of land presents a perfect environment for children development. They need the open space for a holistic development, social interaction not only for the children but the parents and teachers. The open space presents a better positive environment for the children, parents and teachers as opposed to having in a shopping centre.

To build a school to suit 2000 students there needs to be suitable provision for land for the students to play and move and enjoy the outdoors.

I don’t believe this plan caters for this at all

Having access to shared park facilities where students have to cross the road to access - for a school of 2000 students which include very young students is completely inadequate!

In a situation where this school was in an inner city area etc it can be understood

However to build such a school in Box Hill where there is an abundance of land ( and people move to this area because of this land) and there is another large land available on Terry Road - is absurd. There is no need to build a school with inadequate outdoor space for 2000 students

The minimum should not be provided

We should seek to give the best we can to such a great new school! Even if it means an extra longer year to wait to build - the long term will be more positive for the students

Putting a school which is K-12 next to such a busy shopping area is NOT ideal either. I wouldn’t want my Primary age kids attending a school next to such a busy area. Again this would be ok in other suburbs but because we have land on Terry Road there is no need to place this school at this spot

Thirdly a high rise school is also not ideal. We are not in the inner city

We should have amazing facilities in the school but spread out to suit 2000 students rather than giving them a school experience on basically one level of a high rise !

They will have a high rise experience as they go to uni and work. Their schooling should be in a open environment where they have space to move and play and enjoy the outdoors. The idea of a slide is a huge safety issue.

Will children ... all children ... really always use this safely ?

I feel like the design is aiming to win design awards and impress people when in actual fact there is no proper thought to the reality of 2000 students having a positive schooling experience in a school which has a high rise and not enough land and REAL grass and trees on the school grounds itself.


Again if there was no other choice we would have to make do

However when there is a huge land up the road on Terry Road to build Santa Sophia and be able to build even more amazing facilities and sporting grounds for the students .... why is this not being used ?
There is NO practical reason for this And the community knows it


This is a great school and deserves to have a proper space to live up to the potential and to give the 2000 students and families of Box Hill and proper educational institution

You can have an amazing school on Terry road with even better facilities and land for the kids. Yes it may take longer but it is worth it for a school which will be serving this community for many years

I support the Project; however please commit to make the intersection on the Terry Road entrance safer by committing to providing a traffic light by school opening in 2021.

In addition please be aware that some people making a submission may be influenced by incorrect information purported by a husband and wife couple from the Gables.

They have been trying to rally support and framing this proposal negatively to the Gables community; providing false/incorrect information, providing information taken out of context without providing the full picture, providing news articles in their use of propaganda, in order to support their narrative against the project. Example: They keep posting old articles of how SS was meant to be on Terry Road even though they have been advised several times of the reasonable reason for the change; they use this to say that people have lied to them. They keep advising the community that there will be no car parking without also advising the community of the solution of why this is the case (information which is available to the public). It appears they want to send their children to Santa Sophia but as the new plans currently stand, it does not support their personal preference for their children.

This couple seek to influence the community by fear mongering them that the school will not have playing fields and liking the school to a prison, with kilometres of traffic. Please be made aware of the different biases going around and filter the feedback towards these plans based on their integrity.

Please refer to detailed submission attached

There is undoubtedly significant work which has gone into preparing this major project and researching extensively. However, I am uncertain as to whether the information gathered is adequate for the community to make a decision. I'm hearing from my neighbours that there is a great deal of concern regarding the availability of facilities (parks being used during the day etc) and importantly, the traffic congestion. For a sizeable school, this seems to be a relatively small site, and there will be many parents/carers who choose to drive to pick up/drop off children. Although there are cycle paths etc, with a catchment beyond the immediate vicinity, there will be many children and families who live a fair distance from the school and choose to drop off children. I am concerned about the flow on effects throughout the neighbourhood and potentially safety for pedestrians (and vehicles). I would seek assurances that these have been considered and planned for.

Please consider the approval of this development. The school was initially planned to be built on 40 Terry Road, Box Hill but has then moved to the Gables. I personally object for Sancta Sophia to be built on the gables due to the following reasons:
1. Traffic: given that the school is located right next to the shopping centre, this will increase the traffic to the area especially during school drop offs/pickups. There will be increased traffic due to the school and shoppers
2. Security: This increases the risk of strangers coming into the school and for our kids to loiter around the shopping centres without parents consent. Children will naturally hang out at the shopping centres after/before school which can affect businesses in the shopping centre as shoppers avoid the school kids or if the school kids develops a reputation for bringing nuisance to the shopping centre deterring shoppers.
3. Environment & Wellbeing: Today's education has increasingly become indoors and technology focused. Families spend more times indoors and on their screen. Recent studies are now showing the relationship between decrease outdoor time and mental health illnesses. Therefore the design and structure of Sancta Sophia decreases the opportunities for the school kids to be able to run outside freely and interact with nature.
4. Limiting development: the problem with designing "high rise" schools is that you are limiting the expansion of the school when the population increases in the future due to the nature of the design. Yes, the design incorporates "open space" but it is not the same as a school yard with all the love, wear and tear, history and culture of years and years of occupation. Opportunities for kids to develop gross motor skills and become the sports stars of tomorrow may be visibly reduced as we decrease their outdoor space.

I do not agree that Santa Sophia's current site is inevitable. Yes, land is scarce in Sydney but Sancta Sophia has the option to be built in 40 Terry Road where there is plenty of space for the children to play, play games or experience the elements. It also gives opportunities for the school to development according to education and technological advances.

Let’s not forget in all of this that children’s health and wellbeing, curiosity, passion, connection and most of all the opportunity for autonomous, self-directed learning is at the centre of quality education. The school yard is a classroom for life and academic achievement in state of the art, architect designed buildings will only carry kids so far.

Inadequate car parking on site- there are no provisions for any parking for the use of parents and guardians. This will add considerably to the stress of a busy morning, furthermore it increases the risk to students (particularly younger ones) having to walk across the road to school. Some onsite parking for parents should be a requirement. Moreover the proposed 12 pick-up and drop-off bays are not enough to cope with anywhere near 1900 potential students. There is limited public transport, so it must be assumed that the majority of parents will travel by car. This is compounded by the fact that parents will be more likely to use the kiss and drop facility given there is no option to park at the school.

We are also concerned that there will be quite a lot of activity around the school precinct from the neighbouring shops and sporting fields- this will contribute to noise (from the initial construction but ongoing too) and also the potential for persons not associated with the school to be present in the area- adding concerns to student safety and security. The fact that the school will be closely surrounded, and overlooked by medium density, multi-level residential buildings also raises concerns. The students won't have the correct level of privacy from potential predators that might inhabit those buildings.

The nature of the multi-level school and surrounding buildings creates issues with light and shade in the different seasons. The outdoor areas are in full sun in summer and are fully shaded during school hours in winter. This is not just sub-optimal, it is the total opposite of the environment we should be creating in order for our kids to thrive. Temperatures in this part of Sydney can differ markedly from the coast, meaning hotter extremes in summer and appreciably colder minimums during the winter months. Relative to other "traditional" format Australian schools, there is a scarcity of usable outdoor space for the children to express themselves physically, with very limited potential for diversity in their outdoor activity.

In summary, the school design seems to be trying to find a solution to a problem that does not exist- the overly compact campus is not required in such a sprawling area. Further, the campus will not have the ability to grow with the needs of the school or the local community. I whole heartedly agree with the current Planning Minister, the honourable Rob Stokes when he was quoted earlier this year saying "You don't have the same flexibility as you do when you can move spacially outward. When you are going up and down you are locked in once you've built it," Mr Stokes said. "Access to open space is obviously problematic in high-rise buildings".
Please consider this objection.