Jennifer Pittorino
Two Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay schools are among 60 state schools that will receive federal funding for essential upgrades.
Dinjerra Primary School in Braybrook and Altona Meadows Primary School in Altona Meadows will share in the $45 million allocated for the funding.
Altona Meadows will receive $277,959 for refurbishment of the student toilets, and Dinjerra will receive $366, 504 for long-awaited upgrades to its soccer pitch and basketball court.
Dinjerra principal Natalie Vulic said this is a huge win for the school as the current conditions are not up to par.
“The condition of the surface is really uneven , if it rains there are puddles everywhere, we know the surface had not been laid correctly,” she said.
“It is such an important space because we only have one basketball court , one soccer pitch and a running track.
“So for a school of 215 kids, we have a lot of kids playing there at recess and lunch everyday.”
In addition to using the facilities at recess and lunch, the whole school also uses the spaces for their physical education lessons.
“We run various sport clinics, we just had our colour fun run out there on the track and we use it for our sports carnival so it’s very highly used and all the kids will benefit from it,” she said.
“For us it is really important that we provide outdoor active spaces for our kids.
“We want to make sure they have the space to run around and be physically active.”
Although the school is eager to receive the funding and the project going, Ms Vulic suspects the works won’t begin until February next year.
“The Victorian School Building Authority will connect with us and come out and look at the area and discuss the plans, so we suspect it could be completed anywhere from June 2025 to June 2026,” she said.
“Obviously we are hoping for earlier as some of our older kids have realised they might not be here when it happens.
“But we have said we will invite all our students that have left back to see the finished result.”
