Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (19:18): (1837) My adjournment debate this evening is for the Minister for Education. The action I seek from the minister is an immediate update on the condition and financial support coming the way of the Winchelsea Primary School. I have mentioned the Winchelsea Primary School a few times in this place. It is a great little school under the wonderful stewardship of principal Nick Keating and a wonderful and active parents group in a little community that is growing rapidly. The school, in the recent Department of Education condition report, is of the poorest quality in the state in terms of upkeep and maintenance at the school. It is a real shame. It is in part a historic building. It is well located and much loved by the community. Simple things such as safe fencing around it are needed.

The Winchelsea Primary School is located on the Princes Highway, which has dual lanes. There are four lanes of traffic and a set of traffic lights. It is one of the only schools I can think of in the state that does not have the 40-kilometre-an-hour speed zone at the front during active school times. The fencing around it does not keep the children in. In fact over half the schoolyard is out of bounds for the kids because it has only got very old low fencing. It is broken in parts. It is not secure. It is simply not good enough. Basic maintenance – painting, spouting, rat and possum infestation – are all issues rampant in this school. The fact is that the Surf Coast Shire has identified Winchelsea as an area of great growth. They are expecting to more than treble the size of the township over the coming decade. It will need more learning spaces. It will need more opportunities.

In fact, if good planning was afoot with the education department, they would look at the nearby community of Bannockburn and make similar arrangements for a future P–12 site. These are all items that have been put to the minister and the department by the school and the school community as sensible, long-term planning, but in the short term, Minister, the school desperately needs its safety fencing around the property so that the children are safe from the highway. It desperately needs some painting and basic maintenance. It needs that care and attention, because with such a great principal and school community, they deserve what so many other students in the state have when they attend primary school every day. Into the future, Minister, we really want to hear what the department has planned for the future P–12 educational needs of the Winchelsea community.