It has been five years since founder John Stewart opened the first Living School in Lismore on Conway Street, opposite the NSW TAFE site.

John's goal was to have three sites operational: Conway Street for Years 1, 2, 3 and 4, the Lismore CBD for Years 5, 6, 7 and 8, with The Academy, Years 9, 10, 11 and 12, moving into a purpose-built building at Southern Cross University at Block E.

Stages 1 and 2 have been completed. Block E has only recently completed renovations, with students on campus utilising the new learning space.

The CBD premises ran into some delays since John purchased the Brown & Jolly building on Woodlark Street in 2021. COVID, the 2022 floods and planning delays have meant his dream of integrating the Living School into the community in Lismore's CBD needed to be pushed back.

That is all about to change, as John recently received approval from the Regional Planning Committee. Construction can now begin, not only on the Brown & Jolly building, but also on the buildings in the laneways behind it.

Now that the DA has been approved, John wants the community to understand his concept and plans for the Living School's middle-year students, so he is holding a community meeting this Wednesday (5 November) at 10 County Lane, Lismore CBD from 5:30pm. One of the buildings that will be part of the new Living School Middle School campus.

The invitation says, "We’d love for you to join us at our open Q&A event — an evening to see the vision, share your thoughts, and connect with neighbours and local businesses as we discuss how the school intends to support the wider Lismore community."

John told the Lismore App that the planning has taken years, but now there is excitement within the team.

"The focus and the scope was to ensure that we meet all the right requirements and regulations, and it's now activated, and we're ready to move."

As you would expect, there are a lot of conditions that go with a school moving into Lismore's CBD.

"We're dealing with Years 5 to 8, so it's not young children. But how do we manage traffic, the pedestrian approach, flood? We've had a really thorough understanding of how we manage floods. And as we always said, you can be in the centre of town if you know how to manage floods properly and appropriately and build with that conscience. And that's what we're doing."

One of the community's concerns is that the CBD will see a multitude of cars on Woodlark Street as parents drop off and pick up their children from school.

"We don't want cars in the middle of town. In fact, the place where we're in is the Back Lane Gallery, so imagine the learning as you're walking through that space.

"We want to push this understanding that to be a community, you've got to have people in a community in that central business district, and so we have to familiarise children with walking along footpaths again, we have to familiarise children that they can ride to work, ride to school, and that the cycleways around Lismore are safe, and we have to make sure that they can explore their public facilities and amenities not from the window of a car."

"So, the Living School is about this intentionally designed pedagogy around kids connecting with community."

This Wednesday evening community meeting is so John can impart his vision and to answer any community concerns.

"We're talking about what the Brown & Jolly activation means and what we're looking to achieve. People will always have concerns. We listen, but we're navigating that to make sure that people understand that the whole purpose and the intention of Living School is to be embedded in the heart of a town.

"The whole intention of Living School is to connect kids with community. I mean, we cannot improve our future communities without kids being active participants in that community, and the elders of a community seeing kids not as a pack, but as a group of children who want to learn and share their learning with the community. It's logical."

John spoke about the history of schools in the CBD of Lismore and many other towns, and the economic and social benefits it will bring to Lismore.

"My focus is to ensure that our town is a regional centre. And if you look at what the council's plans were through to 2036, it's a city of learning. Everything we're doing is around the strategic goals of not just John Stewart, strategic goals of our council and our state government.

"Lismore is uniquely different to our ribbon development at the coast. Lismore is a CBD that is a grid pattern. It's got arcades, it's got this amazing facility of people being able to access the diversity of shops, restaurants, facilities and services. It's a central piece that means you walk around a square.

"I just see it as intentionally designed around bringing a community back together again. And I tell you, we need it. We've got people who do not go out. We've got people who can Uber food in, they can play Fortnite or games for longer than they can be at school. If that's the world we want, we've got detachment. If we want a community, you have to have connection and you've got to have understanding and support."

If you have any concerns, questions or just want to learn more about the Living School and how the students will be part of the CBD community, get yourself along to 10 County Lane on Wednesday at 5:30pm. Food and refreshments will be supplied, so click here to register yourself.

Event details

Living School's Brown & Jolly Development Q&A

When: Wednesday 5th November

Where: 10 County Lane

Food and refreshments provided

Please RSVP using this Eventbrite link.