Our History
In 2005, construction commenced on the town centre at The New Rouse Hill. At the same time a new, not-for-profit organisation (Rouse Hill Learning & Community Partnership) was established to ensure that learning and community initiatives implemented at The New Rouse Hill were aimed at equipping residents, businesses, workers and visitors to the North West region with the necessary skills, information and opportunities to create a healthy, vibrant and thriving community that can respond to the rapid urban growth that will occur in this region over the coming years.
By the time the town centre opened on 6 March 2008, learning outcomes totalling over 900 had already been recorded with activities such as,
- Teacher workplacement as part of an industry scholarship,
- Recognised Certificate 2 training for over 90 contract staff working within the town centre,
- Education environmental tours by students ranging from Primary School to University
- Establishing Stream Watch at Caddies Creek with the neighbouring Primary School
INITIAL FUNDING
The developers of The New Rouse Hill (Lend Lease and GPT Group) invested $2m to establish the Rouse Hill Learning and Community Partnership (RHL&CP), research, identify and take steps to meet community needs and provide physical space within the town centre itself to conduct learning and community events and activities.
The ultimate goal is that community and learning development at The New Rouse Hill becomes independent of the developers initial seed funding with service providers collaborating and cooperating with one another to create a sustainable environment that leads to improved social and learning outcomes for residents and the region. To this end, RHL&CP seeks to enter into parterships with complimentary service providers, seek and apply for funding from various sources that will allow us to continue to deliver learning outcomes and to market and hire out or lease the learning space available in the town centre, both in the Learn2 Learning Hub or other dedicated learning spaces within the town centre.
RESEARCH
From more than 30 years of creating communities across Australia and the world, Lend Lease Communities has developed a series of five key characteristics of learning communities. The following five key characteristics have been adopted at The New Rouse Hill;
- Learning for all
- Contributes to Social Cohesion
- Contributes to economic development
- Be a sustainable service
- Be governed well and responsively
These key characteristics will continue to be used to ensure the delivery of a successful community development at The New Rouse Hill.
In addition to Lend Lease Communities vast experience in building communities, The Hornery Institute was commissioned to conduct extensive research into the learning and community requirements of the Rouse Hill region. After presenting two reports, one in 2005 and the second in 2006, it was found that for a community to be successful a learning culture must be engendered by providing a broad range of leaning opportunities, strategically targeted to interested learner groups within the community.
This research formed the base platform for learning activities within The New Rouse Hill and continues to inform the business plan of Learn2 in addition with ongoing research and feedback received from our local community.