There are few things more exciting in a school career than looking forward to moving on to the next class, particularly if you’ve been looking forward to it for over 50 years.

Wahroonga Adventist School’s recent approval of a high school building plan and transition into a full P-12 school caused quite a stir in its current school community, especially with the announcement that the addition of a Year Seven class will commence in the 2016 school year.

A ceremony will take place on Sabbath 13 June at 2:30 pm to dedicate the building site for Wahroonga’s new P-12 campus. All are invited to attend. If you do plan on joining in the celebration please RSVP at wasgroundbreak.app.rsvpify.com by 8 June, as light refreshments will be offered at the Fox Valley Community Centre directly after the ceremony is complete.

Some of the most excited and relieved about the announcement are those whose children are in Year Six at Wahroonga Adventist School (WAS) this year. Sarah Jameson is one of the parents thrilled with the news. “We are delighted that we will be able to continue our children’s education at Wahroonga Adventist”, Jameson says. “We have been eagerly awaiting news about the high school, and we are relieved and excited to hear that it is going ahead next year.”

“Wahroonga and the upper North Shore are desperately in need of a co-ed, mid-priced high school with strong values and a nurturing environment. This will allow our four children to be educated together and we are really pleased about this.” News is now beginning to ripple out into the wider community, and the school is being inundated with enquiries from those hoping to find out more about what is planned for next year.

The new school campus is an 18-month build, so classes will be held in modular classrooms at the start of 2016, with the new campus completed in time for the 2017 school year. Principal Michelle Streatfeild assures that the same quality of education and personal attention will hold all the way through to Year 12.

“Our approach to a P-12 school will be three small schools in one, so that we can cater to the particular needs of students where they are at developmentally. This is why we have chosen to have a primary, middle and high school.”

More information is available on the school’s website (wahroonga.adventist.org.edu.au) to show the structure and focus of this approach to three small schools.

Students are also excited about the opportunity to continue their education at Wahroonga and not needing to transition into a different school.  When a Year Six student was asked by the Australian Union Conference film crew about his school experience and why he wants to continue his high school education at Wahroonga Adventist School he said, “Well, I love the sports; you guys do that really well, and the academics are good too. I enjoy the Bible stories – they are really interesting,  but why I really want to stay though, and what I haven’t told my mom yet, is that it’s an Adventist school.”

This unscripted answer is insightful and touching; it is also an incredible reminder of how Adventist education plays an active part in the work of the Adventist church as a whole. To keep up-to-date with the development progress of the build and Wahroonga Adventist School, you can visit the school’s site (wahroonga.adventist.edu.au) or alternatively go to the Education section of the Greater Sydney Conference site (sydney.adventist.org.au), where information from all of the Greater Sydney Adventist schools is available.

Contributed by Anjuli Cruz, Marketing Manager of Sydney Adventist Schools.