From the Executive Principal

Watch Andrew Linke's Welcome Video  

Andrew Linke takes us on a tour of South Plympton Campus's newly launched western extension. Take a sneak peek at the construction of the Stage 2 carpark and courts and see the latest upgrades at Brooklyn Park.

(Watch until the end for a never-before-seen roof-top view of the school grounds.)

Video Transcript

Hello. Welcome to 2025!

It's such a blessing to welcome you back to the new school year. Firstly, a warm welcome to all of our existing families returning one year level up. But also a special welcome to about 170 brand new students starting with us from ELC, Foundation, Year 7, and various year levels in between.

We come back to 2025 with some new buildings. You might have seen some of these happening during last year. They’re pretty much finished now. So the building that we can see behind me here, that's ready for use. Teachers are moving in. Beautiful cross on the front, and also the artwork. This artwork is taken from a painting that we've had especially commissioned just for this purpose. I’m now going to move over and tell you a little bit of details in front of the original artwork.

As we just saw on the facade of the beautiful building, this is the artwork that we had commissioned by indigenous artist Audrey, to inspire the artwork that we've just seen. This has been painted especially for this particular purpose by Audrey, who is a part of the Iwiri organisation that we partner with. It's actually very symbolic. In the top left-hand corner, this represents the community of Emmaus Christian College. On this side, this represents the indigenous community of Ernabella in the API lands, which we've been partnering with for decades. Right in the middle, binding both our communities together, is God—front and centre. The connections between the different lines symbolise the relationship between Emmaus Christian College and Ernabella, all while keeping God in focus.

We wanted this artwork to take pride of place on our new building, not just to show the relationship between Ernabella and Emmaus but also the reconciliation we seek to deepen as we further that relationship in the future. Now, we're going to have a bit of a look underneath the new building and explore what has been created. So follow me as we move around.

Welcome to underneath what we've affectionately been calling Stage 1A for a while now—our beautiful new building on the western side of the main building. You can get a better understanding as we walk through. It's still a work in progress. Our wonderful tradies are here helping us lay the soft fall, getting everything ready. There's just a little patch left to go, but by next Tuesday morning, it will all be complete.

This area used to be a carpark, but now it’s been opened up for young people to be here—out of the rain, out of the sun, and in a safe space to sit, play, and recreate. You can still see the carparks in the distance, showing what this space used to be. A lot of the development work has enabled us to return this area to young people. Longer term, this space will extend around the corner into the large courtyard once we complete the next stage of the building. It gives you an idea of the beauty we are creating for students to enjoy as they eat, play, and connect. There are four-square courts, hopscotch, and other play areas all along the former driveway, which is now a dedicated space for recess and lunch activities.

Now, let's head upstairs to give you a glimpse inside the buildings. Welcome to the first floor of our new building. Here we have one of our diligent teachers, Mr. Dal Santo, working hard to get ready for students moving in this week. We have two of our Year 3/4 classes and three of our Year 5/6 classes up here in this new building. Let’s take a walk down the corridor for a sneak peek before students arrive.

By the time you're watching this, this area will be full of students, which is so exciting. These are much larger rooms than our previous classrooms, offering wonderful, spacious learning environments. As we move to the last room at the end of the corridor, we can see a few more teachers getting ready, and outside, you can still see the beautiful artwork we viewed earlier. Next, let’s head upstairs.

Now we’re on the top floor, starting on the southern side. You can see through the windows, looking onto the inside of the panels I mentioned earlier. This is a very large floor. At the moment, this area is being used as a teacher prep space, but that’s just temporary for the next year or so. Follow me as we step out into what will become the large auditorium space in the future.

This marvellous area sits beneath a beautiful vaulted roof. We have butterfly-style ceilings, lofty heights, and stunning lighting. Currently, the other side is being used as the Year 12 Common Room, which is a great blessing for our seniors this year. There’s also a small office space, but once the next phase of the building is complete, staff offices and the Year 12 Common Room will be relocated, and this entire space will transform into a 420-430 square metre auditorium.

This auditorium will be used for praise and worship, assemblies, parent gatherings, and other significant events. Many of you will have the opportunity to experience this marvellous space, with beautiful views stretching down to Glenelg. That’s the work we’ve been completing over the holidays, finishing off these developments. Next, we’ll take a look at the next big project we’ve been working on.

Hello, welcome to the top of the world—feeling close to God up here! We’re standing on the rooftop, ready to share more exciting developments with you.