Dear parents, students and families, members of our Koala Family. This is a very difficult and sad email to send and we apologise for the shock, tears, upset and sadness that may follow. We would like to inform you that unfortunately Saturday 28th of June 2025 was our very last day of classes. Koala Gymnastic Club / Koala Dance studios will be CLOSING PERMANENTLY FROM TODAY and will not continue operating into term three.
Firstly we would like to thank our amazing gymnasts and parents for the wonderful support you have given the club over the years, it has been a pleasure to get to know you all and we have loved teaching your children gymnastics and dance. We hope you will leave Koala with fond memories of the many happy times we have all had here. We know for many as for us Koala Club has been our happy place. We wish you all the best with wherever the path takes you in the future and would encourage you all to continue your journey of gymnastics and or dance at one of the other lovely clubs nearby.
Koala has been a very special place to come to, have fun, learn and develop skills, perform in comps, concerts and displays and make long lasting friendships, it is so hard to say a final goodbye, we will miss you all so very much.
When the weather gets warmer we will organise a picnic in a local park so we can get together, share some fun stories or memories and say a final goodbye (and deliver the 2024 gymnastics concert video to those who had ordered it) .
As stated above this is not a decision we have taken lightly, it has been a very hard one. (especially for Cathy who has been at the club since she was 6 and Elizabeth who has been at the club since she was two weeks old).
We have just received the new lease agreement and both the rent and outgoings have increased significantly, so much so that signing up for another three years was not a feasible option. We have been struggling with the number of gymnasts we currently have, to keep up with the rent for the last three years and have fallen behind on occasion. The landlord has made it clear that he does not wish us to stay on for another term. We did look into other options, however the rent at the other places in the area was the same or higher. Moving to a new venue is not an option.
When Cathy and Elizabeth took over Koala Club in 2019 as a small family business and moved into our current venue the idea was that it would be our source of income, however with the increasing cost of living and the landlord constantly increasing the rent and outgoings each time the lease is renewed this has not been the case. Cathy and Elizabeth have been working for the last four years for nothing, on many occasions we have had to use our own money just to get by.
In life all good things must eventually come to an end and we feel that it's the right time for Koala Gymnastics and Dance to say goodbye. We have served the local community well over the last fifty years and have helped thousands of children have fun, live, laugh, learn and make lasting friendships through the wonderful sports of gymnastics and dance. We thank you all for being an important part of this journey.
We would also like to thank our amazing gymnastics coaches, dance teachers and volunteers, who have over the years become more like family than staff. Each of you have been amazing and grown and developed into the most wonderful teachers and role models to our students.
Finally, we wish you all the very best in your new lives without Koala gymnastics and dance and hope that if you see us around at the shops or out and about you will come up and say hello.
Lots of love, thank you and good bye,
Cathy, Elizabeth and Josh, Masha, Damien, Christopher and Sinead, Matthew and Benjamin.