Tullow Centre
Tullow Centre
The goal of Leanne Di Stefano was to provide our valued Performing Arts faculties with facilities they had lacked, as they shared spaces with PE and all who claimed Kennedy Hall and occupied portables for instrumental classes.
Consultation with Music and Drama leaders from the beginning has ensured the learning spaces were developed to meet specific criteria. Crosier Scott Architects have designed a stunning building to meet these needs and make the “back door” entrance to the school so impressive for all our students and families.
Finally we have a garage for our two buses and have been able to provide our wonderful maintenance team with a much improved workshop and office.
Our Rosemary Avenue entrance with the newly landscaped roundabout, new fencing, LED sign and staff car park have all been fully funded by the College and we are appreciative of the excellent collaboration between Crosier Scott and Harris HMC , the builders, to complete the project three months ahead of schedule.
We now turn our attention to the next project – Kennedy Hall.
Kennedy Hall, built in 1987, is our indoor sports stadium, our school assembly space, the venue for exams and hosts many functions like our Multicultural evening, Art Shows and Music Concerts.
The original plan was to refurbish the building, however, to achieve the addition of two new PE classrooms, include a new fitness centre, a PE staff office and retain storerooms and an enlarged more welcoming foyer to showcase the College, it is more cost effective to demolish and rebuild. The Canteen will be relocated to a more central space beside the quadrangle in a recently vacated music classroom.
This project is well into the planning stage and is scheduled to begin at the start of 2021. Another exciting year lies ahead!
Sandra Rotunno
Business Manager
Performing Arts
I had just started as a graduate teacher at Killester College in 2017 when I was first called into Leanne Di Stefano’s office to discuss the possibility of a new Performing Arts Centre being built as part of the Master Plan. Fast forward to May 2020 when the building project was completed and I got to walk through the brand new Tullow Centre as the Performing Arts Leader at Killester.
A great deal of work occurred between these two events: multiple meetings with architects discussing the space, looking at floor plans with dimensions and complicated mathematics that I still don’t quite fully understand. Looking at countless colour swatches for different furnishing and discussing the AV and technological requirements for the space.
But it wasn’t until recently, when I took my Year 12 Drama class around the building for the very first time, that everything came into perspective. I got to see, first hand, the faces of a group of Year 12 students exploring their new home with excitement. Many past students will be able to relate to these Year 12's that have spent five and a half years needing to adjust their performances and rehearsals because they were moved to a random classroom as there were assemblies or incursions in the Kennedy Hall or Theatrette. The same students have rehearsed outside on the oval at lunchtime as the same spaces were needed for Indoor Soccer training at the same time. The same students that never once complained. That never once put up a fuss. The same students that adapted and showed resilience every single time.
Somebody asked me recently ‘what this building meant to me’? But it isn’t me who this building was designed for. Nor is it who it means the most to.
There is a really great quote that I love by Mary Lou Cook that says:
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.”
I think this quote really sums up what this space can be for our students here at Killester.
The Tullow Centre is now a space for those students who spend hours every single night practicing their instruments. It is a space for those students who give up every recess and lunchtime to rehearse on their ensemble performances. It is a space for those students who give up their school holidays and weekends to participate in the School Production. This space is for all of those students who show their commitment to themselves, their peers, their school and their craft on a daily basis.
This building is also an amazing opportunity for all students at Killester to see how important Drama and Music can be. Not just in learning an instrument or the ability to perform on stage, but in learning so many transferable skills that impact all aspects of their lives; building confidence, problem solving, working collaboratively, creativity and analytical thinking - just to name a few.
When I was showing the Year 12 Drama class around their new space, I asked them the same question that somebody had asked me. What does this building mean to you? And they responded with the following:
“It’s kind of like we finally have a home now.”
“Yeah. It is somewhere we can belong.”
So yes, as a Drama teacher and the Performing Arts leader, it is of course very exciting to me to have the brand new Tullow Centre to teach in. But it means way more that our students now feel they have a home to be creative, to experiment, to grow and to most importantly - have fun.
And I, for one, can’t wait to see what they achieve.
Jenna Cronin
Performing Arts Leader
The Tullow Centre- A Music perspective.
It’s a long way from teaching flute or trumpet in a bedroom in the house in Ann Street to the beautiful home we now have in the Tullow Centre. Watching and listening to the excitement of our girls walking through the building this morning has been delightful.
Our instrumental staff are very happy, having good acoustics and lovely spaces to ply their craft. I have found myself practising much more in the last two weeks and this comes about because of our surroundings.
Music has grown in the school over the past decade and we really have to thanks Leanne Di Stefano for her vision and drive to build a Performing Arts Centre. To have everyone in the one space now will help build a department and give all the musicians in the school a place to hang out.
Our job is now to utilise it properly and grow the music program. I couldn’t ask for a better environment to do it in.
Bernie Hickey
Music Learning Leader