New hall at Yass High School designed to solve overcrowding

An artist’s impression of an early design of the new multipurpose hall at Yass High School. Image: Supplied.

Early concept designs for the new multipurpose hall at Yass High School, which addresses student overcrowding in the existing hall, have been released more than a year-and-a-half since the NSW Liberal Party made the election commitment.

The hall will include a full-size basketball court, storage and amenities, and be available to students and the public. However, the NSW Department of Education hasn’t provided further details about the facilities or size of the new hall.

What is known is that the hall will be located opposite the school’s new STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) building, close to the public footpath that connects to Hume Tennis Club and Yass Swimming Pool.

The NSW Department of Education said it is working to complete the detailed hall designs and initiate a tender process before the end of 2020, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2021.

The existing hall doesn’t have the capacity for Yass High School’s 600-plus students. Assemblies are currently split into year groups, and HSC students complete their exams in a church hall outside of the school grounds.

The proposed hall at Yass High School will be available to the school and community. Image: Supplied.

The school outgrew the hall many years ago and there was a push for new facilities after a fire there in 2012. The school’s teachers and P&C pushed for additional funding to build a new hall at the same time the insurance money came through to rebuild the buildings lost in the fire. However, they were unsuccessful.

The school’s enrolments have continued to grow since then, particularly when the only other high school in town, at Mount Carmel, closed in 2014.

In March 2019, NSW Liberal Party candidate and now Member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman promised $9 million to build the hall as a NSW state election commitment.

Ms Tuckerman has welcomed progress on the project and said she is excited to share the first images of the hall with the community.

“I’m proud the NSW Government is delivering the new hall at Yass High School,” she said. “It will benefit the school and the local community for years to come.”

Yass High School P&C president Michelle Bond said the school is continuing to grow and she hopes the new hall is futureproofed.