Latest News
Bacchus Marsh school's $6m build
Amy Walker
13May08
Bacchus Marsh Primary School gets funding for a major upgrade in the State budget. Nick, 11, Principal Ian Wren and Bradley,10, pictured.
BACCHUS Marsh Primary School will undergo a $6 million overhaul following last week's State Budget announcement.
The Lerderderg St school will receive a full-size gymnasium, music room, science room, library, 10 classrooms and new toilets.
The only existing structures to remain will be the 1865 historic front building, the kitchen garden and mudbrick art room.
Delighted principal Ian Wren said the school had been pushing for the upgrade for several years.
"This will now become a fantastic school for the future," he said.
Mr Wren said plans were already drawn up and he expected the nine-month building project to start in September. The plans also include a designated drop-off zone and car park to remove traffic congestion in Lerderderg St.
Moorabool Council last week agreed to match the school's proposed $50,278 contribution.
Parent-of-two Sonya Ferry said the school had been overlooked ever since she was a student 30 years ago.
She said her two sons, Dok, 9, and Oska, 7, were studying in the same facilities as she had in the 1970s.
"It is shocking to see my grade 4 classroom still in need of repair," she said.
"I was helping out at the school last year and there was rain leaking into one of the classrooms while students were in the room."
Melton state Labor MP Don Nardella praised parents and teachers for pushing for the upgrade.
But Opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon said many others Moorabool schools were just as desperate for money.
He said the last available school audit released in 2006 revealed a maintenance backlog at primary schools in Gorton, Lal Lal, Ballan and Mount Egerton totalling $305,612.
"Basically a handful of schools in regional Victoria had a windfall but many live with leaking roofs, blocked toilets and frayed carpets," he said.
A Department of Education and Early Childhood Development spokesperson said those schools received a share of more than $240,000 to fund priority maintenance works.
