Tuesday, 27 August 2024

Kororoit electorate schools

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (19:20): (800) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education. The action I seek is for the minister to provide an update on the investments the Victorian Labor government have been making to deliver the Education State across my electorate of Kororoit, including at Albanvale Primary School. I am proud to be part of a government that has spent a decade building the Education State, because every child, no matter where they live, deserves an excellent education.

The announcement of the school saving bonus in the recent state budget has been welcomed by many families in my electorate of Kororoit. This has meant families are no longer having to choose between putting food on their table or paying for school activities and uniforms. This much-needed assistance is in addition to our government’s other supports for families doing it tough, around camps, sports, excursions and uniforms. We are expanding the school breakfast clubs program to include all government schools. This will continue to address the impact that disadvantage can have on education outcomes, because we know that when children are hungry it affects their ability to concentrate, self-regulate and of course learn. Since the program was established in 2016, it has delivered more than 40 ‍million healthy and nutritious meals to students across the state, including those at Albanvale Primary School.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Albanvale Primary School, where I attended the Litfest event for 2024 as part of Book Week last Thursday. It was a very successful morning, with hundreds of parents coming together with their children to celebrate and share their love of reading. The event was made even better thanks to the school’s breakfast club program, which provided a hearty breakfast for the kids. Parents also got to enjoy a free coffee, creating a warm and friendly atmosphere that brought everyone together. At the end of the literacy morning, there was a spelling bee, and what a fabulous way to get young children to learn how to spell, read and write even better. I want to thank principal Mr Michael Uzunovski and all of the staff involved in putting on this wonderful event that truly brought the entire school community together. During my visit I had the opportunity to engage in one-on-one conversations with several parents, all of whom expressed their deep gratitude for the breakfast club program. They highlighted how instrumental it has been in ensuring their children start their day with a nutritious meal.

We are seeing rapid growth out in the west, and I will take this opportunity to remind the house that Kororoit is home to the fastest growing LGA in Australia. As more families are choosing to live in Kororoit, we are getting on with building more schools, and I will highlight just how many schools this government has invested in. We have built Burnside Primary School in 2019, Aintree Primary School in 2021 and Yarrabing Secondary School and Dharra School, which were opened on day one of term 1 this year, and we are not stopping there. We have acquired land for Tarneit Plains primary school in Mount Atkinson, and in the 2024–25 budget we announced the funding to build this school by 2026.

I was recently invited by the youth in my electorate of Kororoit to speak to the senior students of Caroline Chisolm Catholic College. I got to talk to classes in economics, legal studies – (Time expired)