A Broadmeadows school for intellectually disabled students has finally opened its new early and middle-years campuses.
The Broadmeadows Special Development School’s Dimboola Road campus has been more than 10 years in the making.
The development was part of the Broadmeadows Regeneration project, a 10-year state government blueprint designed in 2003 to consolidate 14 schools in the area into four, at an expected cost of more than $100 million.
Despite opening to staff and students in April 2013, the new natural light and technology-filled rooms were officially opened last Wednesday by Education Minister James Merlino, Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire and school principal Suzanne Wirth.
The timing of the plaque unveiling was perhaps delayed to coincide with Labor’s return to government … Broadmeadows Regeneration was steered by former Broadmeadows MP and premier John Brumby and later by premier Steve Bracks.
Classrooms designed by FMSA Architecture have been purpose-built for students with a moderate to profound intellectual disability. The school’s 108 students now learn in flexible working spaces, and rooms built especially for food technology and music therapy.
Mr Merlino said the project had had its ups and downs.
“The builders went bust – these are long, hard slogs,” he said.
“But this facility is education design at its best. This school is a great example of how Victorian children are being supported to reach their full potential, no matter what their learning needs.”
