Million dollar pledge for school “dust bowl”

Narre Warren North Primary School staff and students pictured with Liberal candidate for Narre Warren North Timothy Dragan and Shadow education minister David Hodgett. Photo: supplied.

Narre Warren North Primary School could be set to receive almost one million dollars in funding under a new commitment announced today by the Liberals and Nationals.

Under the pledge, a Liberals and Nationals Government will provide $960,000 towards outdoor improvements for the school, including a new covered outdoor play and school sports space for students.

Narre Warren North Primary School principal Connie Vandervoort said the current sports space at the school is “not conducive for learning”.

“At the moment we don’t have our own oval, we have to pay a licence fee to use the public oval, ” she said.

“We don’t have a gym, we have a small multi-purpose room that can only fit half the school, we have to have assembly outside and when it rains we can’t hold an assembly.”

“There’s not a lot of space for P.E and sport outside at all.”

She said a vacant dirt space is the closest thing the school has to an outdoor sports ground, but it can’t grow grass, is uneven and is “either a dust bowl or very muddy”.

“If we end up getting this funding it would mean we could develop space for some sort of sports court with running space and a cover so we could hold school assemblies regardless of the rain.”

Shadow Minister for Education, David Hodgett, said the students at Narre Warren North Primary School deserve fit-for-purpose facilities.

Liberal Candidate for Narre Warren North, Timothy Dragan, said upgrading the school would secure its future by ensuring it remains a quality option for families.

“This significant investment will deliver better facilities for current and future students and the Narre Warren North Primary School community,” Mr Dragan said.