The Education Department plans to demolish heritage-listed Penshurst Public School and build a new school to accommodate twice as many pupils.
A proposal for the project to be determined as a State Significant Development was submitted in March to the Department of Planning and Environment.
The Department of Education’s only comment in response to questions from the Leader was the redevelopment was being considered for funding in the state budget in June.
The main two-storey building of the school, on the corner of Forest Road and Arcadia Street, is listed as a local heritage item in the former Hurstville Council’s local environmental plan.
It is also on the Education Department’s heritage and conservation register.
The proposal said the building, in the centre of the Arcadia Street frontage, was constructed about 1925 and was of brick construction with rendered dressings and a gabled tiled roof.
“Preliminary heritage advice received for the proposal indicates that, although this building is a local heritage item, the building is of minor aesthetic significance, comprises a typical rather than distinctive example of the inter-war period and its physical integrity has been diminished by various modifications,” it said.
“Most other buildings within the site are more recent, dating from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.”
The proposal said various options for redevelopment, including retention of the heritage building, had been considered.
It said the Education Department had “formed the view that retention of the heritage item would not facilitate the requisite student and staff accommodation or provide for a best practice learning facility to cater for future generations of students.”
The document said the existing school catered for up to 445 primary school students and 31 staff.
The new school would accommodate 1010 primary school students and 59 staff.
“Existing students and staff will be temporarily relocated to another site during demolition and construction works and return upon completion of the new school buildings,” the document said.
Under the heading, Justification, the proposal said, “The need for greater capacity and improved public school facilities in the locality is crucial to meet the educational needs of the growing residential population.
“The site can accommodate a development of this nature with minimal potential for conflict with surrounding development.”
Plans for the new school included a two-three storey building orientated north / south through the site, with connections to other ground floor learning areas.
Facilities would include general learning classrooms (home base rooms), student services, staff and administration areas, library, hall, out of school hours care, canteen and storage.
There would be landscaped outdoor play spaces, both covered and uncovered, at ground level and also at rooftop level in some areas.
The Hurstville Heritage Inventory says the main school building is of local significance as an inter-war period education establishment providing educational facilities to the area since its establishment in 1925.
“The main building maintains its original scale and form as well as fenestration [windows and doors structure] and is a landmark within the streetscape,” the document says.
“It is a representative example of public education and reflects the growth of the area following WWI.”
In 1998, $1.6 million was spent on a new school hall and administration block, and the enlargement of classrooms.
