Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Kew electorate schools

Jess WILSON (Kew) (19:17): (569) My adjournment tonight is to the Minister for Education, and the action I am seeking is that funding is provided to schools in my electorate of Kew in this year’s budget to ensure local schools have first-class teaching and learning facilities for continued outstanding education in our community. I made this ask to the minister’s predecessor before last year’s budget and was disappointed that when budget day came around there was no funding for a single school in Kew, Kew East, Balwyn or Balwyn North. The electorate of Kew is home to more than 30 schools and education is at the very core of our community. Our local state schools require their fair share of capital funding to be able to provide the education that our community deserves and expects. I have worked with and listened to many principals, teachers, school councils, students and parents across my electorate to understand their needs and the gaps that they have.

Prior to the election we on this side of the house had made commitments to funding critical upgrades at a number of local schools. It has been 80 years since Kew East Primary School received any significant state funding for capital works. I ask that the government commit to a $6.5 million upgrade to replace the outdated buildings and build eight new permanent classrooms, a staff room and an office area. Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College has had no substantive investment in decades. Back in 2021 there was an incident at the school where a wall collapsed. Luckily no-one was hurt. We committed to investing $12.2 million in Canterbury Girls 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 teachers and students.

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. We call on the government to commit to a $6.1 million upgrade for the development of a new school master plan and stage 1 upgrades, including new classrooms, much-needed toilet facilities, staff and sick bay facilities. Kew High School desperately needs their main building replaced. Decades-old, its dark, dated, small classrooms simply do not provide the learning spaces needed to deliver the best practice pedagogy the school’s leaders and teachers can offer. It is also incredibly thermally inefficient, with the utility bills far in excess of the funding the school receives. Students are desperate to install solar panels to reduce the school’s carbon footprint, but neither the main building nor the gym roof have the load-bearing capacity to do so. Tinkering around the edges with maintenance here and there will not deliver what Kew High School students need. Finally, 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.

Labor holds 63 per cent of seats, but schools in their electorates have received 93 per cent of funds for school upgrades. The coalition holds 32 per cent of seats, but schools in our electorates only received 6 per cent of funds. This simply is not fair, and I call on the minister to action these important funding commitments in the electorate of Kew.