Proposed Performing Arts and Sports Centre and Aquatic Centre expansion

At MLC School, our girls are empowered with skills and capabilities that enable them to be adaptive, compassionate and courageous. They embrace new challenges and opportunities; and strive for excellence.

Our performing arts and sports programs are an important aspect of this empowerment, offering every girl the opportunity to pursue their passions, try new activities, develop skills and confidence.

To support these programs we have developed a proposal to deliver a modern Performing Arts and Sports Centre and Aquatic Centre expansion on the south-eastern corner of the School site (between Park Road and Britannia Avenue).

We are now preparing to lodge our application for this proposal with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

Please click here for more information on our proposal and next steps. 

Senior School

The award-winning four level MLC Senior School Centre opened for students at the beginning of 2019. The Senior Centre is an exciting place to learn and inspires teachers and students alike to take a fresh approach to traditional classroom learning.

The Architects of MLC School's Senior Centre, BVN, were awarded the prestigious William E Kemp Award for Educational Architecture at the NSW Architecture Awards on 3 July 2020 for their work on this incredible building. They have again be chosen to design the proposed Performing Arts and Sports Complex.

The builders of MLC School's Senior Centre, Lipman Pty Ltd, also won a major construction award in the 2018 Master Builders Association Excellence in Construction Awards, announced in November 2019. The judges praised the building by saying 'this project is a state-of-the-art building that has truly set the bar for all private school developments in the future as it has created a collaborative and interactive learning space for all.'

An abundance of natural light strengthens the connection between indoors and out. Glass panels on the rooftop provide light to the atrium, which is at the heart of the building. The auditorium below, seats approximately 200 people and features acoustic panelling for sound absorption.

Mixing concrete, timber and glass, the new Senior Centre has a robust, industrial feel. Overall, the building houses 21 state-of-the-art classrooms, eight science laboratories with extra preparation areas, three seminar rooms, 10 meeting/tutorial rooms, eight designated collaboration spaces, three multipurpose studios, an IT genius bar, four staff rooms and an outdoor garden terrace on the third level.

Additionally, the building was designed for maximum energy efficiency, including a fully integrated building management system. This system incorporates a weather station which automatically prompts the windows to manage the building's temperature. The external shading louvre system is also supplemented with energy efficient glazing. 

The completion of the building saw the demolition of several existing buildings which were replaced with landscaping and lawns for our girls to enjoy throughout the day.

The Meryl Hilda Wright (1927) Food Technology Kitchens 2023 Renovation

The School completed a significant upgrade of the teaching kitchens in 2023, delivering state-of-the-art equipment and spaces. This was made possible due to the generosity of a benefactor.

The new kitchen stands in the original Wade House which was opened in 1961 and named for the Headmistress Dr Gladys Wade (Headmistress from 1941-1959). There has always been a cooking space where the kitchens are now but the original plans for this space had three rooms designated within today's kitchen spaces. These were used for dressmaking, cookery and as a staff room.

Due to the generosity of a benefactor, the kitchens have been named after Meryl Hilda Wright who spent her entire school life at MLC School; from the age of six in 1916 through to the Leaving Certificate in 1927.

How lucky the next generation of MLC School girls are to receive such a magnificent space in which to construct their culinary masterpieces.

 

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Junior School

At MLC School, we understand that the learning environment has a powerful influence on student achievement.

At MLC School, our flexible learning studios, aesthetic design, seamless connection between carefully planned indoor and outdoor environments, all play a role in encouraging and enhancing relationships between children, teachers and families; and between children and the environment.

The inspired design of the Junior School utilises the relationships between space, colour and light to create wonderful places that encourage children to develop their full range of senses and experiences, to nurture their intellectual and creative development, and to capture the young, playful and imaginative world of the inquisitive and powerful early learner. 

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Year 6 Centre

Opened in 2011, the building’s design is in keeping with MLC School's long-term vision for a less traditional approach in developing open plan, light filled learning spaces.

Flexible space made by sliding and folding glass panels and doors; colourful furniture that adapts and changes shape, all make for a fun school environment that also fits the needs and interests of the girls’ learning activities.

In the last decade or more, and into the future, our intention is to challenge classroom boundaries to improve outcomes for our students.

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Café 1886

Café 1886 provides a space for conversation, informal learning and daily food service in an inviting and casual atmosphere. This fun, flexible and social space serves the needs of our students, staff and community with style.

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Centre for Design, Art and Technology (DART)

Located at the site of the former Kent House, the Centre for Design, Art and Technology (DART) is a thriving hub of creativity that houses our TAS and Visual Arts classes, as well as the Year 12 common room and other teaching spaces.

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Aquatic Centre

Our state of the art Aquatic Centre is open to the community for Learn to Swim classes, squad swimming and much more.

The MLC School Aquatic Centre is a thriving hub of sporting activity for students of all ages. Diving and competitive swimming are popular sports all year round, along with our annual swimming carnivals. These are famous in our community for their serious competition and great sense of fun alike.

The Aquatic Centre is heated all year round. It is the continuation of a long tradition of swimming at MLC School, which built a pool for students very early in its history.

Details on all the aquatic programs we offer can be found here.

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Music Centre

The 1987 Centenary Music Centre opening was heralded as a wonderful addition to our already well-established music tradition. This dedicated space provides greater opportunity for musical talent to be nurtured.

The two-storey structure, designed to resemble a long-fronted cottage and to blend with the buildings in the rest of the street, contains classrooms, studios for one-to-one lessons, an auditorium for recital work and a multi-keyboard laboratory. It is a permanent memorial to the great musical successes of MLC School.

Our long tradition of musical excellence has garnered an international reputation. It is also one of the many ‘languages’ that bind the MLC School community together and give each girl a sense of being part of a valuable whole. The exceptional standard displayed at our annual Music Awards at the Sydney Town Hall and the biennial Sydney Opera House Concert showcases the musical abilities and dedication of every girl from Year 4 to Year 12. Many MLC School Music students have gained entry to the most prestigious institutions in the world, including the Juilliard School, New York.

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Libraries

The Wearne Library and the Junior School Hub are dynamic environments which are integral to learning at MLC School. Both libraries support teaching and learning, ensuring that the needs of all students and staff are met. Collaboration between teacher librarians and subject teachers ensures both libraries provide a range of resources that support the girls’ education, reflect current NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme curriculums, and offers opportunities for research and deeper learning.

Our library collections encompass both print and electronic resources, including online e-books and audio books, encyclopaedias, academic journals, newspapers and a visual library database. Our extensive fiction collection, together with our successful wide reading program, aims to encourage a lifelong love of reading and literature.

Our flexible spaces in both libraries are popular for quiet study, collaborative classes, group work and co-curricular clubs. They are a place to be with friends before and after school as well as during breaks.

 

The Wearne Library Opening Hours (Senior School)

During Term Time:
Monday to Thursday: 7.30am–5.30pm
Friday: 7.30am–4.30pm

During School Holidays (June–July and September–October):
Monday to Friday: 9am–3.30pm
Year 11 and Year 12 students only

Junior School Hub Opening Hours (Junior School)

During Term Time:
Monday to Friday: 8.30am–3.30pm