Whittlesea Secondary College got an unexpected windfall last week when Premier Denis Napthine and Education Minister Martin Dixon handed over $4.7 million to support the school’s burgeoning number of junior students.
School principal Terry Twomey said the grant was “a huge vote of confidence” for the school after hard years following the Black Saturday bushfires. “Twenty-one members of the school community were lost in the fires, and there was the impact afterwards of people rebuilding and relocating.”
In the past four years, the school’s enrolment has gone from 775 to 915, more than 500 being in years 7 to 9.
The grant will enable expansion of the junior school and the school’s performing arts centre. The Premier also announced $1.6 million for Wallan Primary School for an upgrade of its classrooms and administration area.
He said the grants were part of $8.8 billion set aside in the education budget for primary and secondary schools.
