Rupanyup Primary School
Ms KEALY (Lowan) (19:05): (6488) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Education, and the action I seek is for the minister to urgently fund a new playground for Rupanyup Primary School. This is a matter that I raised a few months ago, back in May. The school has actually had an inspection, and their playground has been found to be unsafe and it must be demolished. This would leave this fabulous little primary school in far western Victoria without a playground. A primary school without a playground—it is completely unacceptable, and they should be at the top of the list, really, when it comes to getting any government funding for their facilities. The school have been fantastic advocates. They are a great school community. I have been out there a couple of times. They do such a good job. There is a small number of students, but they are all absolutely amazing. The educators and the parents, supporters and volunteers do so much to make sure not only that those kids have an amazing education full of those important skills of literacy and numeracy but also that they come out as wonderful little human beings.
The school have been fighting, applying for grants for their playground. They recently inquired with the Victorian School Building Authority, who advised that their grant application was highly ranked but not awarded due to the volume of applications with a focus on grants for toilet blocks and roofing. Now, no-one argues whether every school needs a toilet that works, and they need to make sure they have got roofs that do not leak. But they also need to have playgrounds, and given this school could be faced with having no playground at all, I think they should be top of the list. That is why I am urging the minister to support the fantastic Rupanyup Primary School community and to ensure that she urgently finds the funding to build a new playground at Rupanyup Primary School so we can make sure that that is built ready for the school year next year.