Class time at last

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
MAJOR upgrades to Wandin Yallock Primary School are hoped to be completed by next year, moving students out of old portable classrooms and into new buildings.
The news comes after broken promises from the Coalition Government, when the project was split into two stages and then missed out on funding through the Coalition’s first budget last year.
In last week’s 2012/13 budget the government provided the school with the final $2.5 million it needed to complete the stage two construction works.
The 200 students plus staff have been learning among a construction site since December 2010 when the school’s modernisation project began.
This is the biggest project seen in the school since its inception in 1870, where students will move out of portable classrooms and into a flexible, spacious seven classroom learning hub.
The project had originally been planned for a one-stage build through the previous Labor Government.
The school held a rally and petitioned the Education Minister last year when it found it would not receive the funding in one lump sum, leaving students learning in a long-term building site.
Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe was pleased for the school and said it was always going to get the second half of the funding it needed, but that Government projects were often funded in stages.
“The community wanted the cheque in one but the department wanted to fund it in two stages,” she said.
School council president Amanda Williams said it was great to hear stage two funding was available.
“To think that by 2013 we might have a complete 21st century learning environment,” she said.
“That would be fantastic.”
Principal Christine Shiel was delighted to find out that stage two will get the go-ahead, several weeks before the stage one buildings were due to be handed over to the school.
“We are very lucky, we’ve gone from a long period of challenges into being incredibly fortunate,” she said.
“Stage two is there and ready to go.”
Ms Shiel said it was a relief to receive the stage two funding.
“For the whole community every effort now has a tangible return and that means you maintain the focus on the real job which is the children’s learning,” she said.
“It removes the uncertainty and you’ve got this equity where all of our children will have beautiful and functional learning spaces and all of our teachers and staff will have a functional working environment.”
Ms Shiel said the school had been able to reclaim many spaces that hadn’t been in high use by the children.
“It has been more manageable than people feared,” she said.
“It’s an interesting thing, when you have a challenge, to look for solutions and opportunities.”
Stage one buildings, three new classrooms, are weeks away from being handed over to the school, and stage two will bring a seven classroom learning hub and extension and restoration to the historic schoolhouse building for the community.