Cash for school expansion

By Lachlan Ellis

A local school has welcomed a local State MP to its grounds for a tour and a storytelling session, with millions in State Government funding provided to the school in this year’s Budget.

Eureka MP Michaela Settle visited St Bernard’s Parish Primary School in Bacchus Marsh last Wednesday, and was thanked by both staff and students for helping support the school’s growth.

The State Government has committed $3 million to St Bernard’s for expansion of the school to allow for more students, with the school matching that total.

St Bernard’s Parish Primary School Principal Sister Mary Sarah said the school had exciting plans for the money, and hopes to have a builder chosen soon.

“We had the Mary MacKillop Learning Hub dedicated last year, which broke decades of no real expansion of the school. Next to that we have a beautiful building from 1969, much-loved and much-used…with the funding we’ll be increasing capacity, we could go up to 600 or 700 [students], we’re spoiled for land,” Sr Mary said.

“We’re at capacity at the moment, we could easily increase from 150 to 200 with the additional room. We’ve put in for a supplementary grant as well, and the hope is that this year we could go to tender and be ready to get moving. A new building will help accommodate for the middle years, LOTE, and specialist learning, as well as for the arts, humanities, and music as well.”

Sr Mary said the school had given how to use the funding “a lot of thought, and had a lot of community discussions already on what would best serve the children.

“We’re at 370 students now, and projected number for 2030 is 560. The way we’re going I wouldn’t be surprised if we exceeded that number, Bacchus Marsh is in a real growth corridor,” Sr Mary said.

Fittingly wearing a coat in what Sr Mary dubbed “St Bernard’s red”, Ms Settle also promoted the Premier’s Reading Challenge during her visit, reading Somewhere in Australia to a group of students at the new Learning Hub.