Building the Albany Campus

Some of us had ventured to the new site the previous year to watch the construction in hand. I for one was quite alarmed to see that in early December 1977, although the basic site works were completed and the grounds formed, the only visible construction were concrete slabs for four double classroom blocks [JS1-8], the administration building [now the Junior School office], four large concrete water tanks and a car park. No buildings, no facilities, a dust bowl for a playing field and no seal on the tennis courts. As I watched, a contractor’s tractor disappeared through the top of the septic tank installed just the day before. How were we going to open a school in eight weeks’ time?

All credit was due to the contractors, Lockwood Builders and the late Noel Cole (the original architect), for managing to complete enough to enable the school to start on time [February 1978]… Soon after the school’s opening, the arts centre was completed [which later became the library and now functions as the Retail Shop and Support Services]. For a time, this was our only multi-purpose building and was used for assemblies, physical education, badminton and even sorting Christmas cards on fundraising ventures. Many a class dance, a bar mitzvah, auction dinners and a few serious Annual General Meetings took place in this valuable new facility.