{"id":105483,"date":"2026-04-04T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=105483"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:59:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:59:37","slug":"upgrades-for-st-mary-mackillop-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/upgrades-for-st-mary-mackillop-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrades for St Mary MacKillop school"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>STUDENTS at St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School Bannockburn could have access to a new visual arts building and four general learning spaces as soon as the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The brand-new facilities and upgrades are supported by $2.4 million in funding from the State Government&#8217;s Building Fund for Non-Government Schools.<\/p>\n<p>More than 80 low-fee Catholic schools across Victoria have been able to upgrade classrooms and build new facilities with cash from the fund.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_105489\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-105489\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-105489\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/04\/IMG_57471_70107-1-rotated.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1200\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-105489\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Member for Geelong Christine Couzens met with St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School staff and site workers last week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Member for Geelong Christine Couzens visited the school last week to tour works on the expansion with principal Anthony Drill.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As the Bannockburn community grows, Labor is making sure St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School has the modern learning and arts facilities that local families deserve,&#8221; said Ms Couzens.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-13-1_73007.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"630\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School principal Anthony Drill and Member for Geelong Christine Couzens welcomed news of the school&#8217;s expansion with students Ava, Lucy, and Finn in late-2024. Photo: File.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bannockburn is one of the fastest-growing areas in south-west Victoria.<\/p>\n<p>In late-2017, St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School moved onto the pre-existing Bannockburn Primary School site.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the school has been given a makeover including new toilet blocks and an award-winning play area.<\/p>\n<p>The State Government backed the school&#8217;s transition with $3,510,000 as part of the 2019\u201320 Non-Government Schools Capital Fund, and $1,000,000 from the Non-Government Schools Grants Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STUDENTS at St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School Bannockburn could have access to a new visual arts building and four general learning spaces as soon as the second half of 2026. The brand-new facilities and upgrades are supported by $2.4 million in funding from the State Government&#8217;s Building Fund for Non-Government Schools. More than 80 [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/upgrades-for-st-mary-mackillop-school\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":105488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-105483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Upgrades for St Mary MacKillop school - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"St Mary MacKillop upgrades in Bannockburn include a new arts building and classrooms, funded by a $2.4M State Government grant.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/upgrades-for-st-mary-mackillop-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Upgrades for St Mary MacKillop school - 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