Thursday, 6 February 2020

Coburg North Primary School

Ms BLANDTHORN (Pascoe Vale) (09:59): A new school year is exciting, but it is especially exciting when you get to walk into brand-new facilities like those at Coburg North Primary School. On Friday I joined principal Monika Gruss, student leaders and parent representatives for the official opening and the smoking ceremony with Aunty Di Kerr at Coburg North Primary School. It was back in 2014 that then school council president Blair Hocking bailed me up at a campaign stall at a market and told me about the need for investment in Coburg North Primary School. From Blair Hocking, Joe Harrison, Kate Copping, Owen West, Benji Lee and numerous other school council members and supporters there has been ongoing advocacy for this school for a number of years.

Both the Minister for Education and the Treasurer came and saw firsthand the needs at Coburg North Primary School. They understood how the population there was booming, and they understood the need for an upgraded facility. It is really important that we invest in facilities like this, and the $6.7 million that we put into Coburg North Primary School has meant that these students now have first-class learning facilities to match the world-class teaching that happens there. There is an upgraded games hall, a new junior learning centre and a science, technology, engineering, arts and maths hub, and the excitement in this year’s student leaders as they led me around and showed me these completed facilities was really inspiring and impressive and reminds all of us why we are here in this place.