A new school precinct in Melbourne’s north is welcome but it is not enough to support a community bursting at the seams, according to a parents’ group.
Premier Denis Napthine (pictured, centre) visited the $10 million Doreen South Primary School construction site last week and said the much-needed school would be completed by year’s end and ready for students by the start of the 2014 school year.
The land next to the school has been set aside for a secondary school.
In May 2013 the state government committed $11.5 million in its 2013/14 budget for the new school.
“This is a really significant investment in primary, secondary and early childhood education in one of the fastest-growing areas in Melbourne and Australia,” Mr Napthine said.
Doreen resident and member of the Doreen and Mernda Secondary School Alliance, Sarah Lee, said parents were “very grateful and very fortunate” to have this investment.
But she said the 400-student primary school and the adjoining secondary school were “not enough” in one of the country’s fastest-growing areas.
“We could do with multiple more primary schools and secondary schools,” she said. “That would be a next push.”
Yan Yean Labor member Danielle Green said the Liberal Party was out of touch.
“It’s taken nearly 1000 days for a Liberal premier to set foot in Yan Yean,” she said.
“In that time the population has grown from 16,000 to more than 25,000.”
The principal of the neighbouring Doreen Primary School, Glenn Simondson, said his school was at capacity until 2018.
