CEO's Update
Our new classrooms on Richmond Hill
We reached a joyous milestone at the start of Term 2, as we opened our new classroom spaces on Richmond Hill at 283 Church Street.
On the first day of classes Uncle Colin Hunter led a Welcome and Smoking as students explored their new spaces for the first time. Each learning space in the new building is named after a tree of significance to different nations of Victoria, including trees from Wurundjeri, Gunnaikurnai, Gunditjmara and Wemba Wemba Country. These names reflect the personal growth that will take place inside each room (the branches, leaves, blossoms and fruits), with students finding strength in their roots, which bind them to home and family, and their trunks, representing their cultural strength and knowledge.
Our new classrooms were made possible through the acquisition of a new site for MITS from our friends at Access Health, who provide GP, urgent care and allied health services to MITS students. The site provides us with a home base through the coming years while the Richmond Football Club redevelopment is underway. Excitingly, that work at Tigerland is due to start very soon, and once complete our students will return to their “home ground” on the ceremonial meeting grounds of the Kulin Nation (Yarra Park).
Longer term, 283 Church Street presents even more opportunity for MITS and our students, with two more floors currently unused and able to be renovated to meet our future needs.
283 Church Street was transformed in a remarkably short timeframe (only 11 weeks!) by our extraordinary project team, led by architects McIldowie Partners and construction managers Kane Constructions. The result is an exceptional home for our school, with two large classrooms (each of which can be divided for smaller group work), breakout rooms, wellbeing spaces, a kitchen for student cooking, a small library and even a kiln to allow students to pursue pottery.
The speed, quality and cost-effectiveness of the renovation was the gift of an incredibly generous community of MITS supporters, who gave their time, their resources and their passion and expertise to the project. We are grateful to every person and company who contributed: from Pathway Plumbing, an Aboriginal owned business, to Delta Group, Trump Flooring, AG Coombs, CSR, Proas and so many more (far too many to list here!) Later this term we will hold an event to acknowledge and thank these wonderful people and organisations who share in our passion and vision to provide great educational opportunities to our students.
Beyond our project team, we are grateful to the many MITS donors who have contributed to enable us to acquire and renovate 283 Church Street. While it will take us many years to pay off the site in full, we have secured a space that will provide for MITS students long into the future.
I am also grateful and want to thank the MITS staff team who contributed to the project – through acquisition, renovation, bump-in and set-up.
Most importantly, we have been thrilled to see our Year 7 and 8 students making the most of their new classrooms every day. They are truly grasping the opportunities of Melbourne and – just like the trees that their spaces are named after – they are growing every day as a result. This is the core of our purpose at MITS, and we couldn’t be happier.
Edward Tudor
CEO