Thursday, 23 June 2022

Deanside Primary School

Ms HUTCHINS (Sydenham—Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (09:42): I am thrilled to update the house on another brand new education facility that services my electorate. On Monday I joined the Minister for Education and the Minister for Early Childhood to visit Deanside Primary School and officially open the local kindergarten. Co-located with Deanside Primary School, this vibrant, state-of-the-art kinder provides inclusive, high-quality play-based preschool programs for three- and four-year-olds in Deanside and the surrounding western suburbs.

Our $9 billion investment over the next decade to make kinder free for three- and four-year-olds across the state will deliver a new year of universal pre-prep for four-year-olds and establish 50 government-owned and affordable childcare centres. What an achievement, what a commitment. The Victorian Labor government has made a commitment to deliver 100 new schools between 2019 and 2026. This includes the new Deanside Primary School, which opened this year. I would like to read an extract from a poem written by the grades 5 and 6 students to commemorate the opening:

We are a small school that is growing day by day,

All of the students get to have their own say.

Each day we look on the bright side,

Because we are proud to be the first students at Deanside!

I think that is very fitting for the opening of a new school. I will continue to advocate for more funding for schools across the west in order to meet our growing needs.