House debates

Thursday, 3 March 2011

Constituency Statements

Deakin Electorate: Primary Schools for the 21st Century

10:00 am

Photo of Mike SymonMike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Today, I would like to tell the House about the official opening of the $2½ million Primary Schools for the 21st Century project at St James Primary School in the suburb of Vermont, on 20 February this year. St James is located within the new boundaries of Deakin, following last year’s Victorian redistribution by the Australian Electoral Commission. It was my first opportunity to visit the school, which is located just south of Canterbury Road. Late last year, I also opened a new two-storey classroom refurbishment at St James’s sister school—that is, St John the Evangelist School in Mitcham. It is great to see both these local Catholic primary schools having major upgrades and new buildings delivered under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program and under the National School Pride Program as well.

I was given a tour of the new projects by the principal, Andrew Mullaly, and the school captains, Stephanie Prigg, Jamila Wynn, Joshua Drake and Thomas Arrowsmith. Father Mark Reynolds accompanied us and blessed the new buildings as well. Under the funding programs, both part of the Building the Education Revolution, the school built a new multipurpose community centre and new learning spaces. Under the National School Pride Program, the school refurbished three classrooms; installed new interactive whiteboards in all their classrooms—except for a couple, but they went and raised a few dollars for them and they now have them in all; upgraded their toilet facilities; provided a new, external covered learning area; and repainted lots of the internal parts of the school.

The new library and resource centre and multimedia lab with computers was also delivered under the National School Pride Program. It is a nice, modern-looking space in what was quite an old building. All up, between the P21 and National School Pride programs, $2.65 million has been invested in the school, and the projects are a truly great addition to the school community. The school has been on site since 1970 and was well in need of an update, so it is great to see it now has that. I thank the Catholic Education Office for overseeing the federal funds and delivering a great result, along with the architects, Crosier Scott, Circon Constructions and all the subcontractors and other people involved in the job. This particular project at various times employed up to 130 people in the local area, which is a great thing for Melbourne, especially for those who are involved in the construction industry.

St James Primary is a growing school, with over 300 students attending this year and many more waiting to come, as the area is growing. It is an area that families move to, and we are getting more and more children at all our primary schools. That is a fantastic result compared to what was happening only a decade ago, when many schools in the area were closing due to a lack of numbers. I congratulate the school community at St James on turning great plans into a reality for the students of today and the future. (Time expired)