Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, 22 June, I had the privilege to attend a ceremony for the opening of projects at Floraville Public School funded under the Capital Grants Program and the BER program. The principal, Ms Nielsine Oxenford, is retiring, so this was basically her last time at school. I was greeted by the school captains, Sienna Allen and Buddy Botham. I was very pleased to represent the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, Peter Garrett.

The project recognised at Floraville Public School under the Capital Grants Program was a very special project, because it was the largest project that I have been to in my electorate. The capital grants project was funded by the Australian federal government, which put in $5.95 million, and by the New South Wales government, which put in $0.46 million. Total funding under the Capital Grants Program is $642 million; it is a fantastic program. In addition to that, there was $3 million for Floraville Public School through the BER program, with $0.2 million coming from the BER's National School Pride Program. All up, $9.16 million was put in by the Australian Commonwealth government and $0.46 million was put in by the state, in a partnership between the two.

This event was very special to me also because my children attended this school. When they attended, the school was struggling with its numbers. It had about 300 students and it was about to lose teachers, and now it has nearly 600 students. It is one of the highest performing schools within the electorate and has a very strong parent-teacher community. The projects, which were so successful because of the way the community embraced them and the way they worked together to see that the projects were completed, involved the construction of administration and staff facilities, a library, a hall, a special programs room and six classrooms. They are all state-of-the-art facilities that will ensure that all students at Floraville Public School are encouraged to reach their full potential. I might add that all students would be encouraged to reach their full potential even without this wonderful investment by the Australian government, because of the great teachers and the great community in which they attend school.