Governor-General Opens Cosgrove Centre

from the Head of College, Ray Paxton

On Friday, 18 November 2016 His Excellency Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove officially opened Waverley College’s Cosgrove Centre, its $23 million Technology and Applied Studies (TAS) facility, gymnasium/auditorium and aquatic centre, named in honour of one of the College’s favourite alumnus.

In his address, His Excellency Governor General Cosgrove said he and Lady Cosgrove are always thrilled to be back at Waverley College adding, “I am enormously honoured that Waverley College has sought to name an important new building after me. This is a place of learning where younger people are nurtured and fostered and prepared for the next phase of their lives.”

The opening of The Cosgrove Centre celebrates the largest scale construction and refurbishment project in the history of Waverley College, and it is only fitting that we name it in honour of His Excellency Governor-General Cosgrove.

Their Excellencies Governor General and Lady Cosgrove took part in the official opening on Friday, which included students from past and present and distinguished guests including:

• Mr Bruce Notley-Smith MP, Member for Coogee
• Mr Matt Thistlewaite MP, Member for Kingsford Smith
• Dr Wayne Tinsey, Executive Director, Edmund Rice Education Australia
• Br Paul Oakley cfc, President, Edmund Rice Education Australia
• Mr Sam Hardjono, Chairman of the Board, Waverley College
• Cr Sally Betts, Mayor of Waverley Council
• members of the Waverley College Board
• representatives of Waverley College Old Boys’ Union

Most Rev Bishop Richard Umbers, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney blessed the new building and the Governor-General unveiled the official plaque, after which he was given a tour of the new facilities by the College’s Head of TAS (Technological and Applied Studies) Mr Garth Aird. During the tour, student representatives explained to the Governor-General details about the new facilities and the learning they experience in the building.

At Waverley College, our aim is to help develop our students’ higher order thinking so they see Technology and Applied Studies as an academic pathway or one that compliments their choice of tertiary studies – not simply learning to make something at school or learn a trade.

The Technical and Applied Studies building project was specifically in response to the College’s strategic direction to provide a learning setting for our students that is second to none. We believe in our students’ capacity and with our upgraded facility we are already witnessing our philosophy to liberate the learning potential of every student come to life.

For instance, one of our Design and Technology students recently produced a prototype medical supplies delivery drone for his Year 12 major work that has sparked the interest of a leading Australian company to develop medical delivery drone technology that will save lives. Another student has been contacted by a potential sponsor to develop his water filtration sheet for use in research, while another has developed a portable seat for the homeless that unfolds into a bed.

We are very pleased with such innovative achievements, demonstrating our students’ ability to think creatively and sustainably beyond the classroom and what they already know of the world.

In his address, the Governor General said, “”When I was reading about this wonderful new centre, I was reflecting how this school – which started in 1903 with a limited syllabus revolving around the ‘three Rs’ – now offers the broadest range of courses of any NSW school in 2016 and that is a sign of a vibrant, living entity that reinvents itself. I want to congratulate the whole school community for this great success.”

The Governor General continued, “In 2003 I went to a school reunion for the school’s 100th Anniversary as the Chief of the Australian Defence Force. I emerged into the spotlight for my address and when I look out there I saw them – a paradigm for an energetic Australian generation. In my group there were lawyers and doctors and tradesmen and soldiers and every occupation under the sun, but they all had that common thread of being, ‘men of Waverley College’. They were fellows who got to know each other but who had been shaped, guided and directed into a core of moral values.”

Along with six new basketball courts, the new two-story building housing the Technological and Applied Studies Centre (TAS) provides students with modern facilities in Industrial Technology, Hospitality, Food Technology and IT Software and Development. A re-conceived gymnasium/auditorium has been incorporated into the complex, transforming school assemblies and performances with additional retractable seating, able to accommodate 1800 people. The aquatic centre has also been impressively renovated to create a PDHPE Centre with offices, classrooms and change room facilities.

This Capital Works Program epitomises Waverley College’s contribution to education in the Eastern Suburbs. The College holds strong to its character – as a place where the diversity of students is its greatest strength, where its identity is tied to the growth of every student – no matter where his strengths or areas for development lie.