Help us to fund the Development Application and associated consultant costs for Green Mountain School by 1 March 2024!
We are a community-led and community-resourced initiative to open a progressive, independent school based in northern Shoalhaven, NSW. We will offer holistic, experiential and outdoor learning that is child-led and grounded in Nature and Community.
Green Mountain Community School is a not-for-profit organisation led by a volunteer Board of Directors, who guide a core team of highly skilled volunteers offering expertise from their professional field to bring this project to life. As required by the Education Act 1990 (NSW), we are an ASIC registered not-for-profit organisation and are a ACNC registered charity.
Green Mountain Community School initiative exists because, as a community, we recognise the immense challenges we are currently facing socially, economically and environmentally. We want to do all we can to, not only equip children with the qualities and skills they’ll need to adapt and thrive in the future, but also to contribute to a new paradigm of living that is sustainable, regenerative and harmonious for all people, starting with our beloved Shoalhaven community.
There is no holistic, secular and progressive independent for schooling in the Shoalhaven region. Green Mountain Community School will provide diversity within the education sector for families and children in our local area.
Mission for GMCS
We will provide children with an education that encompasses their whole ecology - place, culture, family, head, heart and hands. We learn alongside each unique child and support them in developing their individual skills and talents so that they leave us empowered to shape a sustainable future and create their place and purpose in the world.
Vision for GMS
A place and community where children flourish as whole beings and are empowered to shape their culture with optimism, creativity and empathy, in an ever-changing world.
Values
Walking + working together | in reconciliation with respect for our First Nation Peoples
Environmental stewardship | with reverence for our natural world and its future
Compassion + connection | as we celebrate our diversity and co-create our culture
Innovation + curiosity | is nurtured to enable us to take creative action
Self-belief + awareness | of our learning journey and personal qualities
Location
The School site is positioned between Berry, Cambewarra and Bomaderry. It includes open paddocks, a tree-lined creek and views of Cullinghutti, Moeyen Hill and Cambewarra escarpment, the ‘Green Mountains’ that our school is named after.
Timeline 2024
Throughout 2024 we aim to fundraise, build community through events, create bush play activities alongside the following:
Raise funds and prepare NESA submission.
Site consultations and prepare a development application.
Submit DA to Shoalhaven City Council.
Submit NESA submission (due 31 March).
Ongoing fundraising for capital works, including submitting Commonwealth Capital Grants program application for new schools.
Feedback from NESA on application success.
Initial operating license. Begin enrolments and staff hire.
Begin construction and educational provision purchasing
Staff orientation
Funding 2024 and beyond
1 February $75,000 Development application costs
- $60,000 Consultancy fees
- $15,000 Shoalhaven Council fees
1 March $25,000 Project development
- $5,000 Economic management systems, financial advising, accounting, auditing
- $6,000 Community building, communication and marketing and team operations ($4000 probono donation received)
- $4,500 Strategic planning and project management ($4000 probono donation received)
- $4,500 Traditional owner consultation
- $5,000 Organisation governance and legal consultation
1 July $1,550,000 Capital Works
- $450,000 Learning pod (2 classroom areas) and indoor learning resources
- $450,000 Administration, multipurpose teaching space and resources
- $300,000 Croziers Rd widening and pedestrian footpath
- $125,000 Utility connection and infrastructure
- $100,000 School entrance (kiss and drop zone, covered waiting area and on-site parking) + Driveway to learning areas (accessible parking and emergency vehicle access)
- $75,000 Accessible walkway across creek to wild-play area and landscaping
- $50,000Outdoor learning and wild-play area resources
Total Seed Funding = $2,300,000
Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts, for showing your commitment to creating a nurturing and sustainable educational environment for the children of our future.
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