$1m building boost for Steiner school

LITTLE Yarra Steiner School in Yarra Junction will spend more than $1million in upgrades.
In the next 12 months the school will build a new technology centre, classrooms, seminar facilities and a maintenance workshop.
Classrooms will be built for years 9 and 10 and will include small tutorial rooms, seminar and meeting rooms, a computer lab and a faculty building for staff.
The building projects have been funded through two grants from the Federal Government totalling almost $900,000 and a contribution of $400,000 from the school.
The school received a grant for $400,000 from the Federal Government earlier this year to build the technology centre and was notified last month of a second grant.
“The second grant, worth $477,000, is very welcome and the school is extremely grateful and pleased about it,” school business manager Jim Taylor said.
“It means we can undertake the construction of our new classrooms at the same time and work towards having all of our upgrades ready for the beginning of the school year in 2007.”
Mr Taylor said the upgrades were the biggest in the school’s history and coincided with an extension of the music department and plans for a third pre-school facility.
“I don’t think we’ve had such a range of big projects at the one time and it shows how the school is continuing to develop and go from strength to strength,” he said.
Mr Taylor said the school, with 300 students, had an increase of more than 40 students and ran its first year 12 classes this year.
McEwen MP Fran Bailey said she was pleased to see the school receive funding through Australian Government’s Investing in Our Schools Programme.
“I am delighted that this funding has been approved. The school will now be able to construct three new learning areas as well as purchase furniture and equipment with these funds,” she said.
“The Investing in Our Schools Programme is an exciting new initiative which is delivering much-needed funds to less well-off Catholic and Independent schools in McEwen.”