Dr Graeme Cross (Chief Executive Officer—SCEA) and Mr Nick Wood (Chief Operating Officer—SCEA) recently visited Southern Hills Christian College (SHCC) to commend the staff for their excellent work and discuss the school’s potential growth due to a dramatic increase in enrolment numbers.
Dr Cross presented the below enrolment growth graph, highlighting the current levels of 500+ students. While enrolment growth is often praised in school circles due to excellent teaching, welcoming community and financial management, the overwhelming number of enquiries from the local population have prompted calls to look for an additional site or some other alternative in the area.
“You may remember that we had a plan to put six classrooms on the site a year ago – with all the finances in place,” said Dr Cross,” but the local planning advice was that any intensification of this site would be counterproductive in terms of a fire risk, evacuation and safety concerns for students.”
The recent coincidence of a large local fire sweeping through the region close to the Bedfordale school property and the swift evacuation on a Friday afternoon has only demonstrated the need to cap the number of students that the College can accommodate on the current site.
The demand for Christian schooling in the region continues to intensify, with the College already reaching a historic enrolment high and recently topping the 550-student mark.
College Principal Mr Paul Beacham paid tribute to his staff for their patience, hard work and dedication during this time.
“We have long-serving staff who have journeyed through good and bad times. We also have new staff who are energetic and excited for the future here. We will continue to explore any options that are available to us. I have great faith in the SCEA leadership and their ability to navigate the situation,” said Mr Beacham this week.
Mr Nick Wood outlined details of the work he and the SCEA team were planning to do in order to continue the development of Southern Hills Christian College and its work within the Armadale, Bedfordale and Byford areas.
“There are a number of possibilities that we will be pursuing in the near future. As soon as we have something significant to report, the staff in SCEA schools and the parents here in Bedfordale will know about it,” said Mr Wood.
