Blueprint is our vision and guide for the future Ascham School campus. In essence, it is our Masterplan.

The Masterplan for the School commenced in 2016 and continued to evolve as the School has been able to buy real estate on the campus border. The initial principles of the Masterplan have held true: continue to ensure the School has a village feel, endeavour to move Boarding to the perimeter of the School, no increase in enrolment numbers, and ensure all new buildings are functional, flexible and sustainable well into the future.

All seven precincts for this transformational campus renewal will be planned carefully over the next 10+ years, for minimal disruption and to allow time for the campus to rest between building projects.

Blueprint is intentionally ambitious in its vision. The first stage of Blueprint to be realised is the Fiona campus renewal, with a pre-tendered projected cost of approximately $25 million. Each precinct of Blueprint will follow a robust budget and tender process.

Our Blueprint will be funded by the School through a combination of School savings, operating surplus, fundraising activities and debt financing. Ascham does receive some government funding on an annual basis, which is fully allocated towards activities directly supporting student tuition. No government funding will be used to fund the Blueprint projects.

We would be pleased to hear from you to discuss how you can be involved in our campus renewal projects—please contact Head of School, Andrew Powell for a confidential discussion.

The community will continue to benefit from our facilities through the use of the Packer Theatre for choirs, orchestras and music camps, the pool for use by different clubs including Sydney University, and our classrooms for hosting community activities such as senior citizens’ tech and language classes.

The new Fiona Hall is also anticipated to become available for community bookings. Our Ascham Holiday Academy program will continue to be available to the wider community and conducted in the Fiona buildings when complete.

Blueprint projects have been carefully planned and will be funded by a combination of our School’s savings, operating surplus, fundraising activities and debt financing, such that no material impact to School-fee levels is expected as a sole result of Blueprint projects. The School reserves the right to monitor its annual cost base as relates to all School expenditure, and sets fees on an annual basis according to the overall School cost base and with oversight by the School Council.

No. Ascham is not seeking to increase current student numbers. Our maximum enrolment is 1,240 students and we do not plan to expand the School beyond this.

Yes, Ascham is proudly a girls’ school with exceptionally small class sizes that enable us to know every girl and foster belonging.

This will vary on the area where works are occurring. Some building areas are more contained/less central and will have less impact to School operations, e.g.,19 Darling Point Road.

Impacts of the Fiona works have been studied closely and are well understood. These will include:

• interim reduction in available staff car parking spaces in the main entrance car park off New South Head Road
• traffic management requirements, as construction and suppliers will need to use the main School entrance to access the site and deliver building supplies
• staged works resulting in the relocation of some School activities, such as the Uniform Shop will be relocated to 43 Darling Point Road, the current Fiona Library will have an interim location while the new library is being built, and some Learning Enhancement classes will be relocated to the Senior School for a period of time
• changes to student drop-off and collection procedures adjacent to the Fiona campus
• construction noise and activity on site
• relocation of after-school care services and playground utilisation in other areas of the School during different stages of the construction.

While disruptions of the above nature are inevitable, all possible steps will be taken to minimise impacts.

Through our consultation process with the local council, and well-managed traffic and building guidelines, we anticipate being able to minimise the impact of the building program on the wider neighbourhood. Neighbours closest to the site will be kept informed on an ongoing and timely basis about any noisy planned works.

As part of the redevelopment of Fiona, a traffic management company has been engaged to design and manage the drop-off and pick-up process. These plans will be shared when available. We have been able to maintain excellent drop-off and pick-up flow during the current Hillingdon Playground works, with the assistance of traffic management staff. We are planning to do the same when the Fiona redevelopment commences.

There is no planned increase in off-street parking. School visitors are encouraged to use parking located at the Edgecliff Centre for convenient access to the School.

For regular updates, please visit blueprint.ascham.nsw.edu.au/want-to-know-more

For any further questions please contact our Head of School, Andrew Powell or our Chair of School Council, Nell Anderson.