Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I had the honour of opening new school facilities throughout the electorate of Werriwa, representing the Minister for Education, Jason Clare. As our community continues to grow, it's important that so do the schools and the schooling opportunities. The federal government's Capital Grants Program provides funding to non-government schools to help them expand their facilities so that students can have better learning outcomes.

In October, the Christadelphian Heritage College Sydney opened their new general learning areas, two science laboratories, a chemical store and a preparation area. I would like to thank the principal, Mrs Melissa Sharman, and the board chairman, Samuel Dando, for their warm welcome. These facilities will be vital to replace demountables and provide students with vastly improved learning environments.

On 4 November, I opened new facilities at St Anthony of Padua Catholic College, which received $3.6 million of federal funding under the Capital Grants Program. The facilities include a primary school building with general learning areas, administration areas and a staffroom. This will allow St Anthony's to provide all of the students from preschool to year 12 with the learning environments and education they deserve. A big thank you goes to the principal, Ms Lea De Angelis, and the executive director of Sydney Catholic Schools, Tony Farley, for welcoming me, as well as to the parish priest, Father Kene Onwukwe, for performing the blessings.

Last week, I opened the new and general specialised learning areas at Clancy Catholic College. This will be incredibly important for years 7 to 12 and provides a gymnasium, art rooms, outdoor basketball courts, a canteen and learning spaces. Clancy Catholic College has over 1,200 students. I'd like to thank Principal Mr David Fetterplace and Tony Farley, and I thank parish priest Father Joseph Trong for performing the blessing. These three schools will provide thousands of current and future children in our local community with the education they deserve, and the upgrades are important to ensure they provide our locals with up-to-date facilities for study. It has been a pleasure to be a small part of watching these schools grow into wonderful places of learning, but it's now time for the New South Wales government to step up and provide the public schools needed in these growth areas. I thank all the wonderful students of these schools for welcoming me and letting me know just what they think of the world. It's great to hear about your goals and aspirations, and I wish you all the best.