School council president Jason Barlow, front, inspects the school’s half-sized gym with La Trobe MP Jason Wood, Emily Lidgerwood and Principal Kaye Seton.
By Jade Lawton
BERWICK Primary School leaders fear their school could miss out on $1 million in Federal Government funding.
The school has been allocated $2 million under the government’s Education Revolution program- but instead of expanding the school’s half-sized gym, the money is being used solely for a new multi-purpose centre.
School council president Jason Barlow said the school had not been told the exact cost of the centre, which an architect has estimated could be built for $650,000.
The school’s current gym can only seat half of the school’s 800 students.
“On wet days, assemblies have to be held in the hallways,” Mr Barlow said.
“For us to take one of the gyms (off the plan) we would have lost our basketball court, which would have to have been replaced at our cost,” Mr Barlow said.
However, room was allocated on the other side of the gym for future extensions when the school was built in 2003.
La Trobe MP Jason Wood said several schools across the electorate were trying to negotiate the terms of their projects.
“At the end of the day, the government has provided $2 million to Berwick Primary School. They have done everything right and to me a promise is a promise, let them decide how to spend it,” Mr Wood said.
When the Gazette inquired about the actual cost of the project, a Department of Education and Early Development spokesman said ‘the project is costed at $2 million.’
Mr Wood said he hoped Berwick Primary School would be able to achieve the same results as Berwick Lodge Primary School, who successfully lobbied to change their plans before construction.
