Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Tarneit electorate school zones

Ms CONNOLLY (Tarneit) (13:12): As we resume Parliament this week, I want to kick off by celebrating the fantastic announcement for Williams Landing families that was made just before the July break. Starting from next year Williams Landing will benefit from a shared enrolment arrangement with nearby schools in the area. What this means is that parents will have the choice—the choice of sending their kids to nearby schools without worrying about zoning restrictions. As it currently stands, only a small part of Williams Landing is zoned to the nearest school, Truganina South Primary School, while the rest of the community is zoned to schools in nearby Laverton and Seabrook. Unfortunately Trug South, literally a 5-minute drive from my electorate office in Williams Landing, still has space to take kids from across the Williams Landing community. Parents will have the option of sending their kids to Trug South, if that is what suits them and what they want to do, or to send them to the school they are currently zoned to. I want to be clear: this is about giving parents the choice, the choice of which school to send their children to, because parents in Williams Landing should not have to drive all the way to Seabrook, through traffic, to drop their kids off to that school when there is another school just a stone’s throw away. While some parents might find it easier to drop their kids off at Laverton on their way to work, they too should be able to make that decision. When it comes to education in this state, every child deserves to go to a great local school, and I am so happy that families in Williams Landing will now get their choice of which great school to send their child to.