Millicent Spencer
The first specialist school in the Craigieburn and Mickleham area will open its doors in time for the commencement of term one.
Wayi School is a co-educational, prep-12 school designed for children living with a disability in the Hume municipality.
The school’s name, Wayi (pronounced wah-yee) is a Woi-wurrung word of the Wurundjeri people meaning ‘us’.
Wayi’s founding principal Leanne Sinnadurai said she is looking forward to welcoming 101 new students to the school on January 31.
“It’s been an amazing journey from the beginning [and] I’ve had an amazing team who have worked seven days a week to try and get the school prepared to support students in transitioning,” she said.
“A lot of things have been going on in the background getting the school ready.”
Ms Sinnadurai said one of the biggest challenges her team continues to face is ensuring the transition to the new school is smooth for the students.
“Typically transitions are an important consideration for a child, particularly for a child with an intellectual disability, [but] because we haven’t had a physical school we haven’t been able to have our students come along and be part of a typical transition program,” she said.
Ms Sinnadurai said her team had to get creative and think of innovative ways to run the transition program.
“We’ve had teachers create videos and flyers about themselves, so the students can be familiar with their teachers [before the term starts],” she said.
“We’re being creative because we know how important it is for our students to be able to start in a new environment in a positive way.
“Families have [also] been really supportive of myself and the school, particularly giving they are really trusting us having not been able to come along and do a school tour as you would in a typical school.”
Ms Sinnadurai said the new school will change the lives of students in the area.
“Students who live in Craigieburn and Mickleham have had to travel to Broadmeadows to go to school… reducing travel time will reduce any stress on families,” she said.
“The enrolments have just continued to grow at a considerable place and we’ve had to keep adjusting our plan to support the number of students attending.
“The excitement of the families has been very humbling.”
Ms Sinnadurai said the school will offer an inclusive curriculum including the Victorian Pathways Certificate for senior students.
“We want to support students to develop the skills and abilities to shift out of school and into the workplace,” she said.
“We’re different because we’repPrep-12, so we can support our students from prep right until the time they move out of the school and into their local community.”
Kalkallo MP Ros Spence said she was pleased to see the government’s continued commitment to providing all students with the education opportunities they need to get the best start in life.
“It’s fantastic to see this world-class new specialist school up and running in Craigieburn – finally our local families with additional needs don’t have to travel far to get a fantastic public education,” she said.
“I can’t wait to see inaugural principal Sinnadurai and her dedicated team build an enduring positive and supportive culture to suit the talents and needs of every student.”
The Wayi School has been funded as part of the $491.565 million allocated to build new schools in the 2021–22 state budget.
