Hall ‘crumbling’ and ‘broken’
Davidson High School (DHS) still has the original hall that iconic Aussie band INXS sat in when they learned music there over 40 years ago.
The DHS Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) launched a community petition in late 2023 calling for a new hall, currently at over 1,200 signatures, in which it stated the hall had ‘broken louvres, outdated electric heaters, crumbling ceilings and poky toilets with undersized doors’.
There are proposed boundary changes to the catchment areas for DHS and the new Forest High which would see an influx of students at ‘Davo,’ which already has over 1,000 students, well over its actual cap of 687.
P&C president Anahita Olsen told Peninsula Living that the school has to divide school events into year groups, and only one parent is permitted to attend. Furthermore, Ms Olsen said a temporary stage had to be erected for events as the hall is essentially just a basketball court.
The hall did have a new roof installed in 2023, but Ms Olsen said while she is happy it was replaced, it doesn’t improve the useability of the space.
Holes in the Davo hall roof
“It hasn’t fallen over yet,” she said. “But are they waiting for a ceiling panel to fall on a child before they do something about it?”
Ms Olsen added that the school pays the council around $18,000 to hire the Glen Street Theatre for a week for SOPA (season of performing arts) as the school hall is not big enough.
“The kids really love performing in a beautiful performance space,” said Ms Olsen. “And wouldn’t it be nice if they could do that on their own campus?”
Davidson MP Matt Cross has joined the P&C in its demand for action. Mr Cross wrote to the Minister for Education, Prue Car, in February, requesting a new and upgraded hall for DHS be included in the NSW Budget for 2024/25.
“I think every school community deserves their fair share of infrastructure,” Mr Cross told Peninsula Living. “And Davidson deserves a world-class multi-purpose hall. The current hall has gone beyond its use-by date.”
Under a freedom of information request from 2021, shown to us by Mr Cross, the NSW Department of Education said that DHS had capacity for 1,060 students, ‘but does have undersized core facilities’.
The DHS change.org petition will be presented to the State Government by Mr Cross.