The Canobolas Public School Hall Appeal
Help us build an indoor sports and assembly hall, big enough for every child and family at once.
A small school with a big reputation, and one glaring gap
Canobolas Public School sits on a rural campus six kilometres south-west of Orange, with around 140 children from Kindergarten to Year 6. Our students keep achieving well beyond what anyone would expect of a school this size: as athletes and musicians, as debaters and artists. They represent the district, the region and the state in sport, and take their work to galleries, Eisteddfods and competitions in Orange and beyond.
And for all of it, there is nowhere indoors. No space large enough to play a game, hold a concert, mount an exhibition, or bring the whole school and their families together under one roof. Games, concerts and presentation nights are held outside, and lost whenever the weather turns.
We are inviting local businesses, families, former students and friends of the school to help build a space large enough for the school we’ve become: a single covered home for sport, performance and school life, where every child and every family can gather whatever the weather.
Every donation is tax-deductible through our DGR Building Fund, and permanently recognised.
What we’re asking
Teaching under the same trees since 1878
Canobolas Public School was established in 1878 in the orchard country south-west of Orange, and still teaches beneath the same trees, alongside its historic nineteenth-century “old school” building. It is a warm, close-knit school and a proud member of the Orange Small Schools’ Association.
The breadth of what happens here surprises people. Alongside a strong focus on literacy and numeracy there is tennis and basketball, robotics and chess, debating and public speaking, art club, drama club, a band program and a violin program.
Built for a smaller school than we’ve become
Enrolment has grown well beyond what the school was first built for, and its covered footprint has never kept pace. Today, more children than ever share the same classrooms and the same few covered spaces the school has always had.
A record earned outdoors
Canobolas is known across the region for producing exceptional young athletes, year after year. This year alone, nine of our students qualified for the NSW state cross-country championships (an extraordinary number for a school this size), and five won their events outright at the Western regional carnival, with our under-8 and under-9 girls sweeping the podium.
Our athletic accomplishments don’t stop there. In recent years, our school has produced:
- The 2025 PSSA state hockey champions, alongside Nashdale Public School;
- Five athletes at the 2025 PSSA Athletics State Championships;
- Two swimmers at the 2026 PSSA Swimming State Championships;
- A student awarded an Equestrian Gold Medal in 2025; and
- A student selected for the Regional Super 10s tennis squad: the top 24 under-11 players outside metropolitan Sydney.
Every bit of it earned outdoors, without a single indoor space to train, play or shelter in.
A music program with no stage of its own
Canobolas is as much a school of musicians as of athletes. Our band program has run for more than twenty years: a beginner band for our newest players and a senior band for more experienced musicians, taught by instrumental teachers from the Orange Regional Conservatorium. Alongside it runs a violin program, with a beginner group and a continuers group led by a renowned local violinist, and every child from Kindergarten to Year 2 learns the ukulele as part of their music lessons.
Our young musicians enter the instrumental sections of the Orange, Cowra and Bathurst Eisteddfods and come home with gold, silver and bronze medals, and highly commended placings. Over the years we have added a choir, led by a local singing teacher and choir director, and a dance program taught by a local dance teacher.
But for all this music, there is nowhere indoors to perform it. Nowhere the whole school and their families can sit together and listen, rain, hail or shine.
Debaters, speakers and artists
Ideas, out loud
Our Year 5 and 6 debating team takes on schools from across the state in the Premier’s Debating Challenge, and our public speakers from Years 3 to 6 compete in the CWA Public Speaking Competition. These children are well used to standing up and making their case. What they have never had is the chance to do it in front of the whole school community, students and families together, the way a debate or a speech deserves.
Work worth showing
Our young artists enter local and state-wide competitions and exhibitions, from the Untamed community art project with the Orange Regional Gallery to the Art Gallery of NSW’s Young Archies. Their work travels to galleries around the region and beyond, yet there is nowhere at school to hang it together on one wall where every family could see what these children can do.
The difference a hall would make
Room for the whole school and their families
For the first time, the whole school and their families could come together under one roof for presentation nights, concerts, performances, debates and end-of-year celebrations, out of the weather. The band and choir would finally have a stage. Our debaters and speakers would have a room, and our young artists a wall to show their work on.
A gymnasium for sport, no matter the weather
Every class could have a proper indoor court for sport and physical education, every day of the year. Training and games would no longer be lost to rain, heat or cold, and for the first time our teams could practise and play at home, under cover.
Comparable schools already have this
An indoor or covered multipurpose space is increasingly the norm for schools of our size in the district. Nashdale Public School, our OSSA Green partner and a comparable small rural school, has an indoor multipurpose hall. Canobolas has none. The two schools field teams together and travel to the same carnivals, yet only one has somewhere indoors to train and gather.
What we will build
We have scoped the hall so a community of our size can actually build it, without cutting corners on what matters. Rather than a conventional, architect-delivered education building, the design is based on a prefabricated (kit) steel structure; that one decision is what keeps the project within reach of a community effort. It would provide:
- a single, enclosed space of roughly 600 m², large enough for a full basketball and netball court;
- a comfortable, point-elastic sports floor, kinder on young joints than concrete and hard-wearing;
- good insulation and acoustic treatment, so the space is comfortable to play, learn and hold events in;
- room to seat the whole school and their families together for assemblies and presentation nights;
- amenities and storage, and a simple, portable sound setup for events.
Indicative, concept-level costs put the project at approximately $1 million. These are early planning estimates, to be confirmed as the project develops. Because the school sits on NSW Department of Education land, the hall will be delivered in partnership with School Infrastructure NSW, with all necessary approvals.
Artist’s impression The proposed hall in section and plan: a clear-span steel building with a full-size sports floor, marked for basketball, netball and more. Indicative only.
A gift that lasts, and gives back
Your gift is tax-deductible
The Canobolas Public School P&C Association Building Fund is an endorsed Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR). Donations of $2 or more are tax-deductible, and every dollar given to the fund goes towards the building. Nothing else.
Your support will be recognised
Every donor is permanently recognised. Individuals, families and businesses are all listed on a donor wall in the completed hall, and major supporters can have a feature of the building named in their honour (subject to Department of Education approval). Your name, or your business, becomes part of the hall for the life of the building.
From a brick to a legacy
There’s a place for everyone in this appeal, whether you give as a family or a business, through a group you belong to, or by raising the funds yourself.
Give through a group you belong to
Many supporters belong to organisations that give back: a church or congregation, a service club such as Rotary or Lions, a sporting club, or a local association. Community groups can often contribute at higher levels, including toward naming opportunities, and we’re glad to speak with any group directly.
Fundraise your contribution, and we’ll help
You don’t have to write a cheque to be part of this. We can help a group of friends or families raise their contribution together. Eight families running a Bunnings BBQ could raise around $2,000 and each receive a $250 brick on the donor wall. We’re happy to share ideas and help you get organised.
Major gifts & naming
Name a part of the hall
For larger contributions, whether from a business, a community organisation or service club, a group giving together or an individual benefactor, a feature of the hall can be named in your honour: the sports court, the entrance, the change rooms or the scoreboard. We work these arrangements out with you, one on one; please get in touch (subject to Department of Education approval).
How we’ll look after your gift
This appeal is led by the Canobolas Public School P&C Association on behalf of the school community. We commit to:
- holding all donations in the DGR-endorsed Canobolas Public School P&C Association Building Fund, and using them solely for the hall;
- delivering the project in partnership with School Infrastructure NSW, with proper approvals;
- confirming costs through a quantity surveyor and competitive tender as the project develops; and
- reporting transparently to our supporters on progress and on how funds are used.
Every gift, at every level, is recognised, and every dollar goes to the building. Nothing else.
Help us build it
You can help by making a tax-deductible donation, pledging a gift over time, partnering as a business, or fundraising with a group. We’d also welcome a conversation about major gifts and naming opportunities.
Donate or pledge
Every gift goes through the DGR-endorsed Canobolas Public School P&C Association Building Fund and is tax-deductible. Get in touch and we’ll help you give in the way that suits you: a one-off gift, a pledge over time, or a group fundraiser.
Our children have already shown what they can achieve outdoors, in their own time and for the love of it. With your help, we can give them a place of their own.