Heritage Trail
The Grutzner Centre for Learning and Innovation (CLI)
Equipped with an extensively resourced library and topped with the United Nations Room, the CLI is the main learning space for our Senior School students.
The Centre for Learning and Innovation (CLI), a state-of-the-art flagship building for the Senior School, was officially opened on 31 August 2016 by the Honourable Linda Dessau AM, Governor of Victoria.
In 2019, the School Board announced that the CLI would be named the Grutzner Centre for Learning and Innovation, in gratitude and celebration of former Principal Philip Grutzner's (2010–19) significant legacy at Carey.
The CLI reflects Philip’s vision for a world-class information resource centre for all secondary students and flexible classrooms for the Senior School in an open plan, university-like atmosphere, preparing students for life beyond Carey.
At the heart of the building is the Information Resource Centre which, in addition to housing our extensive catalogue, offers a variety of spaces that cater for the different needs of our students. On the top of this building sits the United Nations Room which reflects Carey’s diversity, inclusivity and commitment to social justice, thus preparing our students for the rapidly changing local, national and international communities in which they live, work and serve.
The facility offers learning and breakout spaces promoting collaborative learning and independent thinking. The design and construction of the Centre for Learning and Innovation was a careful process resulting in the creation of an attractive and functional space where our students can learn, develop and grow.
Fun facts
The CLI was built over the former E-block (E referring to East). The E-block was a modest double-storey rectangular building, with the ground floor adjoining (and providing access to) the foyer at the back of the Chapel.
The site was also once home to a mid-1950s brick gymnasium which was used by the Australian gymnastics team in preparation for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
‘In my time at Carey, the cricket nets and the incinerator were where the Grutzner Centre is now.’
– Ray Reed (1949)
The CLI today
This is a stop on Carey's Heritage Trail.
