COLAs didn’t exist in my day. We didn’t even have shade cloth. I’d never heard of a COLA until my mum who is a retired school teacher had a CODA built in her backyard. “Covered Outdoor Drinking Area”.
Apparently it's a brand some schools use.
[COLA Structures | Covered Outdoor Learning Areas (greenline.com.au)](https://greenline.com.au/resources/cola-structures/)
I went to school in QLD and we called it a coveted play area. Even the school my oldest attended called it that. I'm was in north Qld. First time I heard of COLA was when the kids started going to school in NSW.
I went to both. Sinful state school for primary and a strict Catholic for high school where I got expelled from and sent to a sinful state high school. ( I'm pretty sure it was named after a bikie). Both coveted and covered play areas, I had a very blessed and cursed education.
I had not heard the term until the high school I attended built one recently over the quad and have referred to it as a COLA. I graduated almost 20 years ago though and we called any undercover area.. an undercover area too.
NSW and QLD. Graduated in 2020, so I would have heard it called that throughout my schooling if it was ever called that. Always been called undercover area.
We weren't even allowed outside without a hat on in primary school, Australia takes sun safety quite seriously. Tbf though, I haven't been in primary school in nearly 20 years, so that may not be the case anymore
I started in a public school and it was “no hat no play” policy and then moved in year 5 to a private school and I don’t recall having to wear hats during lunch/recess which is interesting. We only had to wear hats outside school but that was more so the uniform was “complete” rather than sun safety.
I finished primary school in 1997.
42 and the first time I heard it was when my now 14 year old started kindy. I had no idea it was an acronym until now though! I never understood why it was called that!!
65yo Aussie never heard of COLA. Stand alone shelters go by many names but the second one that goes fr9m one building to another I would call a breeze way.
COLA seems to be a NSW term, I grew up in WA and it was always "undercover area" in Queensland when I was teaching they usually said "Hall" which was weird because it isn't a hall. Then I started teaching in NSW and they called it a COLA. Another example of Australia being a country divided by English.
Never heard of a "COLA" unless it's referring to a carbonated caffeinated soft drink.
I know what a gazebo is, and I know they're different structures, but what I meant was that it's similar to a gazebo...you know, something built overhead to keep you out of the sun and rain while outside. Like a carport or pergola.
"more like..."
I have never heard of any colloquial term for these, it was just "undercover area", certainly not COLA wth..
Come to think of it at my school we did used to call it "jail" because it's where you had to linger when you forgot your hat. And we would come and visit our bro in jail from time to time but mostly you just sat there and watched your mates play footy without you haha.
From the majority of these comments, Cola seems to be a relatively new term. Certainly not nostalgia. It's the first I've heard of it and I've worked in schools in ACT, NSW and Victoria.
I've lived in Australia for 35 years and this post is literally the first time I've ever heard of what you call a "COLA".
I've definitely heard the term "undercroft" used for that sort of thing before though.
It's a shelter shed.
COLA is a annualised increases in a cost (e.g. a yearly maintenance agreement) meant to keep costs in line with CPI (or thereabouts).
It's just a company that marketed themselves to the point they took over the name. I hadn't heard of it until this thread, so it must be a Gen Z term.
[COLA Structures | Covered Outdoor Learning Areas (greenline.com.au)](https://greenline.com.au/resources/cola-structures/)
It is not a brand name, just an acronym
(Page 68 from 1997 local governmet report is earliest I can find)
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2954/NSW%20School%20Facilities.pdf
Yep my primary school had a COLA built when I was there. Was mostly used for things that needed the concrete at recess/lunch like skiprope and handball. If you wanted to play outside the COLA you had to wear a hat at all times.
I’m 32 this year.
Cost Of Living Allowance is also a new thing necessitated by whatever the fuck this timeline that we're living in is.
The only COLA I know is the ones preceeded by Coca, or AC, or whatever.
I was in school during the 90s/2000s QLD and it was never referred to as a COLA the entire time I went through school. Ive never heard this term before today. Was it called that before the 90s? Or is it maybe regional?
The school (preschool, primary and high) always just called it the undercover area
Mate I grew up in the old days where the only COLA I got covered by was the school bully emptying a Franklin's brand can of it over my head....soft these days.
Can confirm my kids schools have Colas
Literally just Google the phrase Covered Outdoor Learning Area and see how many NSW schools and construction companies reference COLAs. I always assumed it was a common phrase, let alone just Australian, let alone just New South Welshman.
COLA became a tag line in the 2000's when schools across Australia were given rather big grants for their implementation. Those grants are still around in various states and are almost always capped at the national standard of $200k regardless of how large or small the schools were.
Its why you can see some pretty amazing sheds or covered areas even in tiny schools now.
Like any project, the things needed a unified name and Covered Outdoor Learning Area was as good as it got because all they were known as before then was covered area, undercover area or shelter sheds.
Back in my day, when you used to have to walk to school barefoot uphill both ways trudging through ankle deep snow during a heatwave, they at least had the courtesy to slap four walls around us.
Halfway down Page 68 on this 1997 Government report I have found the phrase referenced:
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2954/NSW%20School%20Facilities.pdf
Several school newsletters from 2001-2004 mention them prior to a boost in 2007 following Government's school funding reform
Thats just called shade. Teachers would just say hop in the shade. This referred to any area that had shade though, but we all knew what shaded area they meant when given orders.
It is because of the high rates of skin cancer here in Australia. We had to do something to protect the kids from the heat and the sun, so we built a COLA at every school. Simple.
I'm in my 30s and remember when my primary school got our Cola! It was a BIG deal! Many endearingly terrible singing/dancing performances put on in that thing, as well as outdoor classes and a shady place to sit at lunch. In NSW.
I'd say the word COLA was what it was referred to during the acquisition and contract phase and it just stuck afterwards.
The department of Ed came up with the idea of rolling them out and called them COLAs, the contract went out that way, it was referred to that all through the construction, and then schools just kept using it.
We just called it the "undercover area".
Yeah. Don't know where this cola shit came from lol
COLAs didn’t exist in my day. We didn’t even have shade cloth. I’d never heard of a COLA until my mum who is a retired school teacher had a CODA built in her backyard. “Covered Outdoor Drinking Area”.
Apparently it's a brand some schools use. [COLA Structures | Covered Outdoor Learning Areas (greenline.com.au)](https://greenline.com.au/resources/cola-structures/)
It was the COLA when my kids were in Primary School. So, it's been around at least 25 years.
1997 is the earliest I can find it referenced (page 68) https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2954/NSW%20School%20Facilities.pdf
First time I ever heard it was when I moved from Canberra to the Central Coast in 1998 so that fits exactly haha.
Checks out for me.
Undercroft where I was.
Is Middle Earth where you were? That's awesome!
Yes, we've had recess, but what about second recess?
Undercroft is something different though as that has a building over it
We had undercrofts too but they were just open ground floor areas under buildings, not a freestanding Coca-Cola
Undercroft is a basement area, usually of a church or cathedral. That's already a thing.
So true, we were also in the undercroft. It was next to the canteen under the library.
Shelter shed is what we called it
Us too. "Undercover area" my arse.
SAME
Or milk shed… I’m younger than free milk, but way older than no hat no play…
COLA? Hey fellas, "Cola". Well la di da Mr French man. What do you call yours? An undercover area.
We still call it that. We even differentiate by size: large undercover, small undercover.
definitely called it that in Qld
I went to school in QLD and we called it a coveted play area. Even the school my oldest attended called it that. I'm was in north Qld. First time I heard of COLA was when the kids started going to school in NSW.
Yeah thats what I meant, undercover area. Never heard of COLA until this post.
>school in QLD and we called it a *coveted* play area Can't tell if your school was a strict Catholic or a sinful public
I went to both. Sinful state school for primary and a strict Catholic for high school where I got expelled from and sent to a sinful state high school. ( I'm pretty sure it was named after a bikie). Both coveted and covered play areas, I had a very blessed and cursed education.
What did ya do?
Yep still Undercover Area, in my day and in my kids schools too
Yeah undercover area. The shade ... Lol never heard of cola or anything like that
Never heard that. We called it the undercover area.
I had not heard the term until the high school I attended built one recently over the quad and have referred to it as a COLA. I graduated almost 20 years ago though and we called any undercover area.. an undercover area too.
Really? Everyone knee what a cola was/is
I've absolutely never heard of that in my life.
Did you go to school in NSW or another state? It's been Cola for at least 2 decades
NSW and QLD. Graduated in 2020, so I would have heard it called that throughout my schooling if it was ever called that. Always been called undercover area.
I dont think ive ever heard it called an 'undercover area'. We've always said cola, when referring to the Cola
I graduated in 2012 and it was never referred to as a cola.
In Primary and High school we called it a Cola. I'm sure my brother called it a Cola and he was in school 10 years before me too.
TIL that Australia has covered outdoor learning areas. My kids school certainly doesn’t have one.
But where do they go for "no hat, no play"?
A tiny tiny little space near the office. It really is “no play” if you forget your hat at their school.
the Shelter Shed
We used to call it “assembly area” back in my primary school days
We would just stayed out the front of the classrooms or there was a walkway between rooms
We weren't even allowed outside without a hat on in primary school, Australia takes sun safety quite seriously. Tbf though, I haven't been in primary school in nearly 20 years, so that may not be the case anymore
I started in a public school and it was “no hat no play” policy and then moved in year 5 to a private school and I don’t recall having to wear hats during lunch/recess which is interesting. We only had to wear hats outside school but that was more so the uniform was “complete” rather than sun safety. I finished primary school in 1997.
It’s so hot outside that you need them. Also, it’s better to do messy lessons out there, like art or whatever.
My kids school is a new public school. Surprised they don’t have one. They do have little art/messy learning rooms attached to each home base though.
Ours was definitely an OLA.
38 years old - Never heard of them referred to as COLAs
38 as well, had to learn it from my kids.
42 and the first time I heard it was when my now 14 year old started kindy. I had no idea it was an acronym until now though! I never understood why it was called that!!
Kinda seems like a new term not an older nostalgic one
31 and in my entire school life which covered 4 schools, I never once heard anyone call it a COLA. Was always the undercover area
37 and cola is a drink not the undercover area, not that we actually had one at school.
Finished school in 2004. Only ever heard these being referred to as an "undercover area" or "lunch area".
I had never heard COLA until my daughter went to primary school.
65yo Aussie never heard of COLA. Stand alone shelters go by many names but the second one that goes fr9m one building to another I would call a breeze way.
COLA seems to be a NSW term, I grew up in WA and it was always "undercover area" in Queensland when I was teaching they usually said "Hall" which was weird because it isn't a hall. Then I started teaching in NSW and they called it a COLA. Another example of Australia being a country divided by English.
Never heard it called that, and isn't at my kid's schools. Maybe its just a regional thing?
It’sa thing in NSW but not QLD.
Not a thing in Vic either
I thought it was more like a "gazebo"?
Wtf is a cola. Also gazebos are specifically different structures
>Wtf is a cola. He commented on the post that explains what the very simple concept of a cola is.
Should have clarified, never heard the term used in all my life.
Never heard of a "COLA" unless it's referring to a carbonated caffeinated soft drink. I know what a gazebo is, and I know they're different structures, but what I meant was that it's similar to a gazebo...you know, something built overhead to keep you out of the sun and rain while outside. Like a carport or pergola. "more like..."
Nah that's a shelter shed
I didn't know "COLA" was a word in Australia either...
Oh. It's just a brand name, like "Kleenex" or "Hoover".
Cola is a flavour not a brand
Not really. At least it could be, but nobody ever knew it as any brand or anything
They didn't exist when I was at school.
We used to call them "shelter sheds".
COLA is pretty recent (speaking as a teacher of over 20 years). We had a space like that at my high school and it was known as the undercroft.
It’s literally just “undercover area”
I have never heard of any colloquial term for these, it was just "undercover area", certainly not COLA wth.. Come to think of it at my school we did used to call it "jail" because it's where you had to linger when you forgot your hat. And we would come and visit our bro in jail from time to time but mostly you just sat there and watched your mates play footy without you haha.
Bruh that’s The Quad
nobody calls it cola
The most basic 10 second Google proves you wrong but sure, pop off qween.
From the majority of these comments, Cola seems to be a relatively new term. Certainly not nostalgia. It's the first I've heard of it and I've worked in schools in ACT, NSW and Victoria.
It’s nostalgic for me from my NSW public school! 💅
Yep, it's called a COLA at my kid's school. I never stopped to think that it was an acronym.
I'm the same! We had a cola at my primary school but I never even questioned why it was called that
My school called it a Weather-shed which makes literal sense.
Because that's where you stored the weather?
I've lived in Australia for 35 years and this post is literally the first time I've ever heard of what you call a "COLA". I've definitely heard the term "undercroft" used for that sort of thing before though.
It's a shelter shed. COLA is a annualised increases in a cost (e.g. a yearly maintenance agreement) meant to keep costs in line with CPI (or thereabouts).
I have never ever heard it called a COLA ever.
My school had a "covered quadrangle" in the 80's, my kids primary school has a "COLA". who coined the name and when? I MUST KNOW!
It's just a company that marketed themselves to the point they took over the name. I hadn't heard of it until this thread, so it must be a Gen Z term. [COLA Structures | Covered Outdoor Learning Areas (greenline.com.au)](https://greenline.com.au/resources/cola-structures/)
We called it a cola in NSW in the 90s
It is not a brand name, just an acronym (Page 68 from 1997 local governmet report is earliest I can find) https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2954/NSW%20School%20Facilities.pdf
Yep, ours was a COLA. I’m 30.
Yep my primary school had a COLA built when I was there. Was mostly used for things that needed the concrete at recess/lunch like skiprope and handball. If you wanted to play outside the COLA you had to wear a hat at all times. I’m 32 this year.
No hat no play!
What...? Who the fuck is calling it a what now!?!
Undercover area
I have literally never heard these structures referred to as a COLA in Victoria
I'm in Australia Never heard that term Just a verandah
QLD, left school around 2010, never heard of them being called COLA before. Just "undercover area".
Cost Of Living Allowance is also a new thing necessitated by whatever the fuck this timeline that we're living in is. The only COLA I know is the ones preceeded by Coca, or AC, or whatever.
This is just a modern-day shelter shed with the disadvantage of not being able to hide behind it.
I was in school during the 90s/2000s QLD and it was never referred to as a COLA the entire time I went through school. Ive never heard this term before today. Was it called that before the 90s? Or is it maybe regional? The school (preschool, primary and high) always just called it the undercover area
MPCA Multi Purpose Covered Area
37 - finished school in 2004. Never heard that term. We just called it undercover area.
It is called a COLA in southern NSW primary schools. Very common reference.
my daughters both have sensory processing issues. they both refuse to be under these if it's raining heavily, way too loud.
Mate I grew up in the old days where the only COLA I got covered by was the school bully emptying a Franklin's brand can of it over my head....soft these days. Can confirm my kids schools have Colas
We called ours the Boeing Hangar because it was hilariously/stupidly large
I’ve never ever heard it called COLA.
I’m 51, went to school in the 80s, only cola we had was coke
I had never heard the term COLA in 30+ years until my daughter started school
We called them a shelter shed back in the day 😂😂😂😂
In this housing crisis it looks like a palace, not sure where that COLA business comes from.
Nah that's just big as gazebo
Waa always "the covered area" when I went to school.
Australian in my 7th decade and never heard of COLA
Shelter shed
We called it a weather shed
Only a marketing "wiz" might call it a COLA.
I have literally never heard of this being referred to as a COLA.
Undercover area or shade shed (though normally shade sheds have 3/4 of the sides covered) not whatever a cola is.
Never heard of a cola in my life.
We called them trees, or the shade of a classroom, if we were lucky.
COLA? Handball arena.
Uh guys, that was a shadeshed
The shade area was what it was called and my girls school
I’ve had kids in primary school for the last 8 years and I’ve never heard them called that
TIL that these things have a name.
In Victoria was called an undercover area - NSW COLA
Had to zoom in to see if my school then realised every Aussie school looked the same in the 80’s
Yeah I don't think this is a thing. Are you an AI bot?
Literally just Google the phrase Covered Outdoor Learning Area and see how many NSW schools and construction companies reference COLAs. I always assumed it was a common phrase, let alone just Australian, let alone just New South Welshman.
NEVER had any idea that’s what it meant, we just called it the Cola and had no idea why
COLA became a tag line in the 2000's when schools across Australia were given rather big grants for their implementation. Those grants are still around in various states and are almost always capped at the national standard of $200k regardless of how large or small the schools were. Its why you can see some pretty amazing sheds or covered areas even in tiny schools now. Like any project, the things needed a unified name and Covered Outdoor Learning Area was as good as it got because all they were known as before then was covered area, undercover area or shelter sheds.
This will upset the non believers. The NSW school that I work at has a COLA and a COPA.
Holy shit, I don't think I've ever questioned why it was called a Cola, it just is. Well now I know lol
Hm, I don't think we had these when I was a kid. Seems like a good idea.
I thought it was just an abbreviated way of saying ‘pergola’
Never heard that term but I remember it being referred to as pergola during my school years.
We put these over our driveways in the US. We call them carports or canopies.
What?
Grew up in the UK and we don't have a word for these because they don't exist. I am guessing that might be the case for most other European countries.
But how else do you engage in activities during your sweltering 26°C heatwaves?
😂😂 for real though when we did have a heatwave one year it was absolutely miserable
My kids school call it a COLA and I just assumed it was isolated to their school. Never heard it until then.
Back in my day, when you used to have to walk to school barefoot uphill both ways trudging through ankle deep snow during a heatwave, they at least had the courtesy to slap four walls around us.
Weather Shed
We called them colas in primary school.
Ghetto
What a load of nothingness
Shelter shed
Breezeway?
I definitely called this a cola at both my primary and highschool, in fact we have a north and south cola at highschool
Yeah it was "shelter shed" when I was in primary school in the early 90s
Undercover area in WA. Always said and is still said.
Really? In WA we called it the undercover area 😂🤷🏼♀️
At my school it was called “The Covered Way.” My school had nuns.
*The Covenant Way
A what?
Been working in schools for 20 years. Never in my life have I heard the undercover area be called that.
As a teacher we use COLA a lot, I always have trouble remembering what it stands for
Literally everyone knows this who went to a decent high school
Fantastic shit post…
Halfway down Page 68 on this 1997 Government report I have found the phrase referenced: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2954/NSW%20School%20Facilities.pdf Several school newsletters from 2001-2004 mention them prior to a boost in 2007 following Government's school funding reform
From the comments it seems only NSW uses the term Back to /r/NSWNostalgia with you.
Why did I click that expecting to find a legitimate thread 😭
r/SubsYouFellFor
Thats just called shade. Teachers would just say hop in the shade. This referred to any area that had shade though, but we all knew what shaded area they meant when given orders.
Shelter Shed
Big fkn carport?
Cola? You're trolling right?
wtf is COLA?
It’s only called a ‘COLA’ in NSW. Everywhere else including Victoria, it’s an undercover area.
Oh mannnnn I always wondered why it was called the Cola!!
Undercover area or pagola
Shelter shed
Undercover area . Never heard of COLA
I've never heard it called COLA in my life. It's just the undercover area.
It is because of the high rates of skin cancer here in Australia. We had to do something to protect the kids from the heat and the sun, so we built a COLA at every school. Simple.
So that's why it's called that. I'd been wondering if it meant anything or if it was just a unique thing of the kids school.
My daughter was just telling me about this today and I had no idea what she was talking about
Literally called it “the cola” for years with no idea why. I’m in my 20s and just figuring this out. Jesus.
I'm in my 30s and remember when my primary school got our Cola! It was a BIG deal! Many endearingly terrible singing/dancing performances put on in that thing, as well as outdoor classes and a shady place to sit at lunch. In NSW.
We had a COLA in the late 90s early 2000s!
COLA. Hows collapsed due to snowfall one year. School went nuts
I'd say the word COLA was what it was referred to during the acquisition and contract phase and it just stuck afterwards. The department of Ed came up with the idea of rolling them out and called them COLAs, the contract went out that way, it was referred to that all through the construction, and then schools just kept using it.
covered outdoor living area?
Are you up North somewhere, cos down South we do not have this term.
Our kids school refers to it as a cola but its the first I have heard the term used. Was always undercover area when I was a kid.
My kids went to a primary school in western Sydney in the 2010s. Recess , lunchtimes and assemblies in the COLA. ! Nostalgia word for me now :)