Thursday, 9 March 2023

Kew electorate schools

Jess WILSON (Kew) (17:17): (99) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Education, and the action I am seeking is that funding is provided to schools in the Kew electorate in this year’s budget to ensure local schools have first-class teaching and learning facilities for continued outstanding education in our community. The electorate of Kew is home to more than 30 schools and education is at the very core of our community, but our local state schools require their fair share of capital funding to be able to provide the education that our community deserves and expects. Over the course of the past year I have worked closely with many schools, principals, school councils and parents alike across my electorate to understand their needs. Prior to the election we on this side of the house made commitments to funding critical upgrades at a number of local schools. It has been 80 years since Kew East Primary School has received any significant state funding for capital works, and the school desperately needs an urgent upgrade. I ask that the government commit to $6.5 million to replace the outdated buildings and build eight new permanent classrooms, a staffroom and an office area. Kew East principal Helen Fotheringham is a powerful advocate for this wonderful primary school, and I thank her for her ongoing engagement on this issue.

In a similar vein Canterbury Girls Secondary College has had no substantive investment in its facilities in decades and is seeking urgent upgrades. In 2021 a wall at the school collapsed, sending bricks and glass crashing to the floor. Luckily, no-one was hurt, as students were in class at the time, but the school had more than 100 staff and 1000 students on site. This is simply unacceptable. We committed to investing in Canterbury Girls: $12.2 million to prepare and deliver a new master plan for its campus. The school facilities are dated and impractical, with spaces such as the science and art classrooms no longer supporting the needs of both students and teachers. As a leader in female education and one of Victoria’s few government girls schools, Canterbury Girls college deserves the appropriate funding to support its students and teachers, and I call on the Andrews government to step up and provide this much-needed funding.

Balwyn Primary School is a thriving local primary school with consistently strong NAPLAN results. However, enrolments have nearly doubled since 2011, and facilities have not been upgraded to reflect the significantly increased numbers. I call on the government to commit $6.1 million for the development of a school master plan and stage 1 upgrades, including new classrooms, much-needed toilet facilities, staff facilities and sick bay facilities. After working with school representatives and parents, I know that this investment is desperately needed for Balwyn Primary School if we are to ensure that students have the very best start.

Finally, I call on the government to ensure that the surplus funds from the building of the recent STEM centre at Kew High School are reinvested in upgrading teaching and learning spaces and not repurposed for maintenance works. I call on the government to commit to funding the next phase of the Victorian School Building Authority developed master plan at Chatham Primary School, which involves phase 2 and 3 works and includes the completion of refurbishing the historic building and the Building the Education Revolution building. I call on the minister to action these important funding commitments and ensure there is adequate funding for all schools in the electorate of Kew.