Future primary school attendee Anita Shekarkhandeh with her mother. Photo: Nicholas Ward.
With less than six months until the new Strathnairn Primary opens to its first cohort of students, the school is asking the community to help pick its uniform design.
In green and blue, the proposed uniform options have three designs:
- Option A, Community, represented through a ripple effect.
- Option B, Flow, representing the Murrumbidgee, flowing water and a fingerprint.
- Option C, Path, representing mountains and rivers.
Casting the first vote was a future student, six-and-a-half-year-old Anita Shekarkhandeh, who said she liked all of them.
“I like the little wheels, and I like the detail,” she said.
Anita was torn between Options A and B, but in the end leaned towards the latter. As one of the first students to step foot on the future school site, she said she was excited to get to know her future friends.
“I would be really happy to make girlfriends,” she said.
“I like the library and the teachers, I like learning, that kind of stuff.”
Anita will not have to wait long, with the first group of students scheduled to make the school home on 30 January 2026.
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry unveiled the uniform designs and encouraged everyone in the community to vote for their favourite.
“The draft logo and uniform designs represent the values of the school and community, and each element has its own special meaning and importance,” she said.
“Three logos have been created to choose from, all representing key elements and influences for Strathnairn School, including landscape, community and unity.”
Ms Berry said she liked all the designs, but her favourite was the first one.
Education Minister Yvette Berry is encouraging people to vote for their favourite uniform design and logo, with hers being Option A. Photo: Supplied.
Ms Berry said she hoped schools such as Strathnairn would be prime candidates for a plan to expand the scope of educational facilities for community use.
“Obviously, the priorities are school to school during school hours, but outside of school hours, we have these amazing millions of dollars in assets that the community should be able to access outside of school hours,” she said
On the development side, construction management is confident that the school will be ready in time for the first stage of opening next year.
Project manager Sameera Pokhrel said the project was progressing well.
“We are still on track to finish the structure for the building … We are pretty tight with the timeline for the January handover, but at the same time, everyone, the full project team, including the subcontractors and the management team, is working towards achieving that goal.”
Strathnairn Primary School is the first school project to have an all-female management team as part of a government pilot program. Photo: Nicholas Ward.
The team is currently installing a roof at the site, and with good weather forecast, work is looking on schedule.
The campus construction project is the first of its kind in the ACT, utilising a women-led management team through Icon Water.
Ms Pokhrel said it was the first project she’d worked on with a 100 per cent female management team.
“It feels good to see a little bit of a better balance being brought forward in the industry and being encouraged towards that future.”
With the handover only a few months away, staff are preparing to move into their new worksite.
Principal Nicole Nicholson said she was excited to see her new school taking shape, and planning for the move-in was well underway.
“We’re preparing to open day one, the 30th of January, for preschool to Year 2,” Ms Nicholson said.
“We’re so excited to get the majority of the building ready … then the rest of the construction will continue into 2026, and we will welcome Years 3 to 6 in the following year.
People who want a say on the uniform design and logo have until 21 September to submit their vote through the Yoursay portal.
