It was a beautiful day for Prep to Year 10 students to assemble together for the first time in a few years for this momentous occasion on Wednesday 4 May.

Bishop Richard Treloar, Archdeacon Clem Watts, Mr Darren Jennings (Board Chair), and guest speaker Mr Richard Prideaux, who was Principal of St Paul’s in 2002 when the Traralgon Campus opened, were among the special guests that visited the school.

Some Foundation staff members from the Traralgon Campus, Foundation families, former Heads of School and former Board Directors were also in attendance.

To mark the completion of the new Basketball and Netball Complex, which will pave the way for the school’s new Futures Centre, students, staff and guests took part in a whole-campus photo to commemorate the campus’ future expansion to accommodate Years 11 and 12.

The campus began in 2002 with students from Pre-Kinder to Year 3. The history of the school is full of remarkable stories. Planned to commence in Term 1, 2002, the buildings were not ready and, thanks to the generosity of John and Jan Richardson, the school operated for a period from the former Birchwood House Early Learning Centre. After moving onto the 40 acre site in Cross’s Road, in 2003 the school worked hard to acquire an adjacent piece of land, expanding the site to over 130 acres that now extends to the Latrobe River. In 2008, Year 7 students were welcomed for the first time and the school expanded annually to reach Year 10 in 2012. During the past decade, the school has regularly considered demand and consulted with the community, resolving in 2020 to take the final step and offer Years 11 and 12 commencing from 2026.

Preparatory works for the expansion to VCE have already commenced, with a recently completed four-court outdoor basketball/netball complex, paving the way for construction of the $7-million ‘Futures Centre’ to commence mid-year. This will be stage one of an ongoing $21-million capital investment into the Traralgon Campus as the school caters to increased demand for student numbers and facilitates a purpose-built learning environment to expand curriculum and co-curricular offerings.

Principal of St Paul’s, Mr Cameron Herbert, said that “St Paul’s is excited to commemorate 20 years since our beginning in Traralgon and see the expansion of choices in schooling for students in the region.”

“Importantly for our students and their families, travelling long distances by bus to access a quality independent VCE education will be a thing of the past. The Futures Centre signals the first step in our significant plans which will see major and ongoing investment in the Gippsland region over the next decade.”

The Futures Centre will be a striking multi-level building with outstanding performing arts facilities, a modern secondary library adjoining a large spacious open cafeteria, a community hub and a range of student learning and gathering spaces, both large and small. Following on from the building of the Futures Centre, from 2025 consecutive stages consisting of specialist and general classrooms will be built to cater for the delivery of a high-quality VCE curriculum.

St Paul’s has an ongoing commitment to the Gippsland community and will be shortly inviting local builders to tender for the project. This investment will support ongoing employment and business opportunities that will benefit the local economy.

St Paul’s will also be celebrating 40 years since beginning in Warragul in 1982 at this year’s Whole School Anniversary Service, which is planned for August.