The first pupils of Oran Park Anglican College were able to stand together on one small outdoor stage for the official dedication and opening of the school by Archbishop Peter Jensen.

But judging by the enthusiasm of the local community, it won’t be long before that stage won’t hold them all.

The school is within the town centre of the new community being developed south-west of Sydney and eventually to be home to more than twenty five thousand residents.

The entire college from Kindergarten to Year Five sang for the assembled guests and Principal Ross Whelan told the crowd the healthy start meant there were great prospects.

“We have 50 students now and that will grow to over 900” Mr Whelan said. “I’m waiting for the day that we can begin Year 7. Right now we are taking lots of expressions of interest. My plan would be that (Year 7 opening) would be in 2014.”

With a backdrop of what he called “marvellous facilities” Mr Whelan foreshadowed a multipurpose centre for sport and the arts, to be built ‘when the funding arrives’. 

Archbishop Jensen urged people to pray for the school and for it’s students. “We want every child to have the best education, whether it is in the state system or in the private system. That’s our commitment because every child is infinitely precious and precious in the sight of God.” the Archbishop said.

He prayed that there would be “growth in numbers of pupils and teachers and that the work they do here will prepare them for life in this great nation.”

The Archbishop called on Greenfields Development Company managing director Tony Perich to help him unveil the plaque and paid tribute to the Perich family’s vision in helping create the community precinct. Oran Park is built on land bought by the family in the 1960’s, after they migrated to Australia from Croatia.

“There was nothing here except cows and the old race track” said Dr Laurie Scandrett, the CEO of the Schools operators Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation, recalling his first trip to the site in a four wheel drive.

Dr Scandrett said “Oran Park Anglican College is the result of vision.  The vision of a lot of people over a long period of time.”

He particularly commended Archbishops Harry Goodhew and Peter Jensen for their support of ‘affordable quality Christian education’.

Oran Park Anglican College is the Corporation's seventeenth school, with a total of 11,500 students including the 50 who took to the stage at Oran Park.