Mosman High School Upgrade

See attached

Mosman High School is an important central site in Mosman Village, and occupies aboriginal land that was likely a meeting place for millennia. The proposed upgrade is a welcome investment in public education, and has undertaken a world class design process, incorporating Designing with Country, heritage assessment and consideration for future teaching methods. This submission is an expression of support, with some suggestions to improve integration into the wider community:
1. Relocating the main entrance to Belmont St is sensible, but raises some traffic issues. Travel by car would involve either a right turn at Military Road, or children crossing Belmont Road. Drop off parking zones should be added on each side of the road (Mon - Fri) to ensure safe access. The existing zebra crossing, while currently well sited, may be too far from the new entrance & tempt short cuts, so consideration should be given to a subsidiary entry point aligned with the crossing, separated from the staff parking area.
2. There is an overall reduction in open space on the site, while staff parking is retained. This effectively preferences staff convenience over pupil amenity. As it is, this reduction will require students to go off site for organised sporting activity - Allan Border Oval is walkable, but other facilities at Rawson Park, Middle Head and Balmoral are not. This could be resolved by moving the parking spaces underground and creating an artificial turf outdoor area on top. An alternative scheme would be to develop the parking area between Raglan & Avenue Road (underground with development on top), with a set of bays reserved for staff. This would have the added advantage of being available for the community on weekends.
3. Schools are relatively under utilised with core hours 9am-4pm for 200 days per year. Consideration should be given to how the facilities could be used safely outside these hours, for:
- Out of hours care. Requiring areas where children can be concentrated with a high student : staff ratio, with other areas secured.
- Social space for teenagers. There is a lack of activities for 13-18 years, resulting in groups meeting in parks & taking drugs. Space could be made available for a NFP (eg PCYC) to offer social activities on weekend nights.
- Facilities for Local NFPs. Facilities such as theatres, workshops and meeting spaces could be used out of hours. For this to be practical, separate entries would be required that do not give access to other areas of the school. There are many NFPs in the area who could run high quality programs in the new spaces.
4. Digital. Digitally enabled distance learning is likely to become a permanent feature. Consideration should be given to the practical requirements of power, broadband, wifi and suitable spaces for emerging technology to be fully leveraged.

Congratulations on the progress so far, and help to see this project come to life.

HNSW ACH advice attached.

Please find attached EES response

I do not believe the traffic study has seriously considered the already overcrowded traffic situation outside the high school at pick up and drop off times. In particular it fails to take into account the fact that there are a number of schools close by doing the same thing at the same time. Also the plan to put the buses from Military Rd to Belmont rd ignores the fact that Mosman Public School has an entrance on Belmont Rd only a few hundred metres away. Also the car parks provided total 33 and should be 91 for 1,200 students and there will now be over 1.300 students. The survey was also made after HSC students had left school. Finally, it is no solution to direct staff to surrounding public paid parking. The fundamental point is that Military rd is already at a stand still around the time school starts and finishes and the High School extension will only make it worse. I ask you to take the traffic issues much more seriously!

Comments on Proposed Mosman High School Upgrade
I support investment in the Mosman High School which provides an excellent educational and cultural environment for a large number of local children run by a much-respected Principal (Susan Wyatt).
And the proposed development principally along Military and Belmont Roads appears to have been well designed to fit in with other buildings in the Mosman Junction.
However, I have some observations relating to school numbers, traffic and consultations.
The site is a very tight one and surrounded by intense traffic issues. What is the justification for planning to increase the school numbers further? These numbers have already increased greatly in the last 20 years.
It appears that the Mosman school catchment includes areas (Zones 6 and 7) in the North Sydney municipality. Has there been an appropriate assessment of enlarged school facilities in North Sydney? The local Mosman community has been told simply that the Mosman High School needs to take more students. But there has been no explanation for the catchment.
The significant increase in student will put further pressure on what the NRMA recently found to be one of the most congested suburban streets in in Sydney.
Related to the traffic issue, while a front School entrance in Belmont Street is reasonable for pedestrians, it would be quite unsuitable for buses or for immediate motor vehicle drop-off.
Parking is a further major issue. The public document asserts that more parking in the site is not necessary because there is adequate parking on the local streets. Maybe staff and students can find parking. But the local streets, Gouldesbury, Keston Avenue, Avenue Road, Archer Street and the east end of Wolger Road are completely parked out in school hours largely by school staff and students to the detriment of local residential amenity and convenience. The failure to provide any more parking (already grossly short of requirements) is a major local problem.
Finally, notwithstanding various consultations by the Department of Education, I believe that many local residents are unaware of the plans for the school development and of the opportunity for comment. There has been little local publicity recently and four weeks for consultation, including two school holiday weeks over Easter, is effectively a short period.
My suggestions are that residents be given more notice of the proposed development and time to comment and that consideration be given to reducing the catchment area (and student numbers) and to providing more parking on the site.
Peter Abelson
Mosman resident (Mayor, Mosman Council 2012-17)

OBJECTION TO MOSMAN HIGH SCHOOL SITE PLAN AND PARKING AS PROPOSED.

There is a major omission in the application for the Mosman High School Upgrade, and that is any detailed consideration of both the impact on the availability of on-street parking in the area surrounding the site of the school, both during construction and after completion of the proposed upgrade.
During construction it can be anticipated that there will be a demand for both cars associated with construction workers and for teachers who will be displaced from the high school site, as a result of areas that will be required for site sheds and storage of building materials. Almost all the surrounding streets have time-limited parking during working hours, and as a consequence the requirement for this additional parking will place unreasonable pressure on the longer-term parking available to residents. This will result in prolonged local conflict and inconvenience for all users, that will probably last for the construction duration.
After completion of construction, the projected increase in teacher and student numbers will again place pressure on available street parking in the longer term. A significant number of senior students attend from outside the immediate area, and many of these drive cars, as is evidenced by the fact that nearby streets with unlimited parking are frequently parked out during school hours
The documents related to the proposed school upgrade make brief mention of the need for teacher and student parking, and simply offer the platitude that it is State Government policy to not provide parking for some staff and all students, on the basis that public transport is generally available. This is simplistic and ignores the realities of living in a high density area.
It is particularly questionable when some years ago a single-storey covered play area was constructed on the Gladstone Avenue frontage, without inclusion of any underground car parking area, that could have been provided at minimal cost.
Mosman Council will need to give careful consideration to the reasonable needs of local residents, where residential parking zones may need to be introduced to allow existing amenity to be maintained.

I wish to strongly OBJECT to the Upgrade of Mosman High School.

NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE:
Mosman High School has not been fit for purpose for a very long time. It is incorrectly sited and the land area of 14510 sq.m. (less than 1.5 ha.) is far too small to support the number of students and teachers even currently on site. Much of the area is and will be taken up by buildings.

LACK OF SPORTING FACILITIES:
There is very little in the way of sporting facilities available, with students wasting time by having to travel some distance to access even an Oval. Such is the reputation of this High School's lack of space that some local parents send their children elsewhere.
As such, it does not respond “to local demand for educational facilities and will deliver important public social infrastructure that will benefit the local community”.
“Local demand” and “the local community” is a higher economic demographic which expects any high school to provide all facilities on site.
With the increase in students to 1200 and teachers/support staff to 91, this overcrowding situation will become more dire. Changing the building structures will not create a better outcome for a site that is too small for its purpose, lacks facilities and does not meet the Department’s own criteria.
The proposed rooftop “sporting facilities” will still not be enough for sporting teams which add to an all-round education.

TRANSPORT AND PARKING:
Firstly, why was the Traffic study done in November -December, when all the school leavers had finished their HSC year and were no longer at school? These Traffic study dates do not give any confidence that the assessment has been carried out correctly!
This timing would certainly not give an accurate – or fair – estimation of what actually happens with traffic and parking in the immediate area.
Mosman High School is in the middle of a shopping precinct which has a village atmosphere. It is on a main road (Military Road) and main secondary roads (Belmont Road and Avenue Road) which service through traffic to the city, Taronga Zoo and Balmoral Beach and are already grossly overcrowded with cars, and trucks servicing the shops and restaurants.
The Council car parking areas are already insufficient for the number of people shopping and eating at restaurants, which all generates additional traffic.
The Green Travel Plan idea is a myth. Most teachers drive to school and park in the already overcrowded nearby streets - such as where I live.
The parking area in the existing school is completely inadequate and is totally full, having taken over some of the school’s previous playground years ago, with double parking and parking on the grass verge near the school fence.
There is no all-day Council car parking available in the area at all, leaving teachers to find and utilise parking spaces used by residents who live in the vicinity, creating considerable disharmony and loss of amenity to those who actually pay rates. It is already extremely difficult for local residents to park anywhere near their own home.
Yet the Mosman High School Upgrade proposal does not provide any extra parking spaces, even though there is to be an increase in both departmental staff and students.
Further, as soon as students qualify for their Provisional Driving Licence, many drive to school rather than catch public transport or have their parents drop them off, creating additional lack of available parking. This creates an HSC year of drivers, not public transport users or walkers, which was not measured in the transport study.

AFTER HOURS COMMUNITY USE:
The present High School ceased being used for this purpose years ago. Until discontinued it was previously Mosman Evening College. Why would this change once the area is re-developed? There will still be no suitable “team sports” areas, so community use would be minimal and restricted to classroom/lecture style activities.
There are already a number of other under-utilised suitable venues available in Mosman which fulfil this purpose (with adjacent parking areas).
To use the High School after hours, there will still be the existing problems of:-
• security - and associated costs
• insurance issues
• staffing requirements
• lack of parking facilities
• and disturbance of amenity of nearby residents.

CONSTRUCTION PHASE:
The positioning of demountable classrooms (and in all probability construction offices) to take up the present staff car parking area is ludicrous.
Where does the developer propose teachers and staff will park? And indeed, their own construction staff?
Nearby streets are already full and Mosman Council has just yesterday discontinued parking on Mondays in a nearby lane to allow for garbage to be collected. This is clear evidence of overcrowded parking.
Where does the Department propose the students will have recreation areas?
How will teachers teach and students learn, given construction noise levels?
No consideration whatsoever has been given to the affect this construction will have on the amenity of local residents. (Noise, parking, additional cars and heavy construction traffic.)
The four roads surrounding this school area already heavily utilised (and patrolled regularly by Council Parking Rangers).
The number of construction jobs created at any one time will be minimal and last for only a projected two years.

RELEVANCE:
What is relevant is the long-term lack of viability of Mosman High School on the existing site and the huge amount of public money to be spent to upgrade it on this site, when it will still not be fit for purpose once the disruptive rebuilding has taken place. Any Upgrade or rebuilding should provide better full facilities well into the future, not simply regurgitate the past.

OTHER MORE SUITABLE SITE:
The Federal Government has a huge tract of land with existing ovals, sporting open areas and art facilities, etc. at nearby Middle Head. This area already has transport links. Perhaps the Federal and State Governments and Department of Education could meet and discuss acquiring part of this area for a full state of the art new Mosman High School which would have adequate land and facilities and would serve the community well into the future.
This could be funded by the sale of the existing High School site for a suitable use, such as over 55’s accommodation/townhouse/lower rise “village” accommodation.
This would allow the present High School to operate without impediment whilst an entirely new school was being built, and the change-over to happen without problems. Local residents would not be affected by the construction works of the new High School and would end up having a much- needed accommodation village close to all necessary amenities – and a far better educational facility for both students and teachers.

Concerns:
How sunsafe is the basketball court? sunnies and hat hard to wear whilst playing? could we fit in more of a play area and get rid of some more trees? could they be smaller ones and we have shaded area? basketball currently is a dangerous game at lunch and isnt without injuries...particurlary head injuries.
Will there be adequate supervision from staff? currently great concerns over this at break time heavily relying on students to snitch.
With the additional staff places will we see an increase in slso?s Will we have APLAS on campus for additional support for learning plan implimentation consistency in all classes?
During construction phrase how will the vunerable groups - hearing impaired, ADHD,ASD students be best supported? it will be very hard on these students in addition to the daily issues they have to deal with.
Bullying a huge concern in all schools at present despite policies. How is this going to be better managed with the new school? the local police station are happy to provide officers to talk to students from chatswood but have warned many principals reluctant to let them in to talk.
Could we have a buddy system set up like in primary or private schools to also assist this?
the school must be able to be fully inclusive to all with physcial and invisible disabilities eg ADHD which is often not mentioned only ASD is. How will this be done?
Are we ensuring toilets/ change rooms cater for transgender students?
we need this buiding built asap as time is ticking
Will there be break out rooms for children to go to for quiet study etc?
could the local area make use of basketball courts on weekends etc? thus hours of operation would change
Hopefully my points will be considered so Mosman high is a fully inclusive school once built

Please see the attached TfNSW letter.

response attached

See attached.

see attached letter.