North West Support School

The Tasmanian Government is undertaking a major redevelopment of North West Support School.

The redevelopment will provide new purpose-built learning facilities for students and staff, including an onsite hydrotherapy pool.

In 2022, the North West Support School Association Committee made a recommendation to the Department and the Minister for Education, Children and Youth that its preferred option was to consolidate the two existing campuses into a new single regional support school at Penguin.

The recent redevelopment of Penguin District School has resulted in the large existing primary school site becoming vacant and available for redevelopment as a support school.

The School Association recommended this option as it offers a range of benefits for students and staff. These are:

• The new site at Penguin is larger, can accommodate all current students and better cater for growth in enrolments in the future.
• Provides more learning and social opportunities for students due to co-location and partnerships with a mainstream school and nearby regional sports and recreational facilities.
• Removes the logistical challenges of operating geographically split campuses and enables the Department to concentrate learning and therapeutic support resources for students at one site.
• Both existing campuses are located on heavily constrained sites and consolidation at Penguin removes the challenge of trying to accommodate student enrolment growth on these sites.
• Will deliver a more significant facility for students and staff than could be achieved by redeveloping the current split campuses.

The Department has also committed to providing additional transport services for all currently enrolled students and their families to assist with travel to and from the Penguin site.

Public consultation will be undertaken from 27 February to 6 April 2023 to provide the opportunity for everyone to contribute feedback on the redevelopment of North West Support School at Penguin. Click here to provide your feedback or for more information, email us at getinvolved@decyp.tas.gov.au.

You can also register to attend a community workshop to be held on 28 and 29 March 2023 from 3.30pm-5pm.