School turns 20

By Kelly Yates
BERWICK Lodge Primary School is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
The school opened on 5 February in 1990 at Berwick Primary School with an enrolment of 200 students.
Principal Henry Grossek said the school was in temporary accommodation at Berwick Primary School as the roof on one of the Mansfield Street school buildings had blown off.
“The school was finished at the end of term one, and we moved in at the start of term two,” Mr Grossek said.
The amount of students has continued to grow over the years, with 740 students enrolled this year.
“The number has stayed in the low to mid 700s for the past 10 years,” he said.
Mr Grossek said more than 50 per cent of their students came from areas outside the local neighbourhood.
“We provide an excellent range of programs and respond to the needs and wants of parents,” he said.
The school has had a long history of involvement with community campaigns such as showing its support to have Casey Airport closed in the early 1990s, in the early 2000s they ran a successful campaign to prevent Hutchison–Orange from building a 30-metre high mobile phone tower within 300 metres of the school and pushed VicRoads to install sound barriers along the Monash Freeway adjacent to the school.
“We’ve always taken a very active proactive stand on community and educational issues,” he said.
Before moving to Berwick Lodge Primary School, Mr Grossek was the principal at Eastern Road Primary School in South Melbourne.
Berwick Lodge Primary School is marking the milestone by holding a fete at the school on Friday 20 November.