ON his first official trip outside Melbourne since the end of the state\u2019s last wave of lockdown, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has visited capital works projects at three Ballarat schools.<\/p>\n
Mid-last week Mr Andrews headed to Delacombe Primary where $6.5 million was spent on a new gym, tech classroom, multipurpose space, office, and canteen.<\/p>\n
Earlier at Miners Rest he inspected $21.6 million worth of works on what is essentially a rebuild of the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen over our tour a number of different stages where we\u2019ve been pleased to support this school [Delacombe] for a long period of time,\u201d Mr Andrews said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis stadium is the star of the show. [It\u2019s] not just great for Delacombe Primary but fantastic for the local community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many schools in the area, Delacombe Primary has experienced rapid growth. Ten years ago there were about 250 kids, now that\u2019s nearly doubled to just under 490.<\/p>\n
With the growth comes a need for more, and increasingly flexible facilities, and principal Scott Phillips said that\u2019s what the new gym offered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe works are providing to our kids and our community a quality stadium, which prior to being built we just had a tin shed that was extremely hot during summer and very cold during winter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids love it, but I think more importantly the teachers notice it, because the gym surface is a soft surface, and the noise level is far less.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of build, school leadership also added a tech classroom. The space is full of tools of the future like banks of 3D printers and tablet computers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allocation was originally for a stadium, but we spent some extra money as we felt it was really important to add that technology centre,\u201d Mr Phillips said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought that was really relevant to our school and our students and it\u2019s a great addition to the space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ON his first official trip outside Melbourne since the end of the state\u2019s last wave of lockdown, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has visited capital works projects at three Ballarat schools. Mid-last week Mr Andrews headed to Delacombe Primary where $6.5 million was spent on a new gym, tech classroom, multipurpose space, office, and canteen. Earlier […]<\/p>\n