Final stage funding

BEECHWORTH Secondary College (BSC) will be boasting a new hospitality and classroom building after securing $6.4m worth of State Government funding. Northern Victoria MP Jaclyn Symes was at the school on Tuesday to announce the funds on state budget day, which will be the final stage of upgrades and mordenisation of the school. Stage three upgrades will include the development of around three or four new purpose-built classroom areas, welfare offices, hospitality area including a canteen for students and linking the buildings to the music area. Works will also include upgrades to the school’s STEM building which will compliment upgrades recently completed at the school’s gym. “I’ve been on the journey with this school community, and I’m really pleased to be back in Beechworth to confirm funding for their next stage of building upgrades,” Ms Symes said. “Staff, students, and families will have first-class secondary school facilities that they can be proud of.” The school received funding for the planning of the development of the building last year and spent the year working on the design of the upgrades. BSC principal Patricia Broom said the funding will support the final stage of a long slate of college upgrades which have been in the works for more than 10 years. “This is really exciting, because we need to finish this off rather than having lingering portables,” she said. “We desperately need the hospitality access here, that’s one of the big things in our community…. we have students bussing up to Wodonga to do hospitality at the moment.” “It’s been a long wait since the start of our masterplan.” The stage three upgrades will complete $9.4million worth of State Government funded works which have included a new science and resource centre that consists of two laboratories, seminar rooms, staff spaces and common learning areas accommodating the library. The State Government made a pre-election commitment to the investment of the stage three upgrades if elected in 2022, which they have now been able to fulfil. Ms Broom said she would expect the builds to be completed within the next two years. “We’re ready to go, it’s a clear space so there’s no demolition or decanting needed, we’re well into the design and development phase and it won’t be long before we will be able to go to tender,” she said. “There’s nothing that’s in the way of us being able to progress unlike the last build.” Ms Broom said the building will not only bolster a necessary need within the school, but serve as a valuable community space. “I think it will be really popular and really needed for the skills of this area,” she said. “It identifies what the community sees as really important as well, we know it’s really popular, and when it’s a hospitality food service like it is, other people can use it for cooking classes and during the night as well. “The school is a hub for that sort of thing, we’ve got the community use of the gymnasium, lots of people use our courts, soccer pitches and it’s the same thing here. “And they won’t have to travel out of town, our numbers have already gone up this year with student enrolments and I can only see those continuing to increase.” The school was one of three in northern Victoria to receive funding for upgrades. The state budget will also include a one off $400 school saving bonus available to every child at a government school and eligible concession card holders at other schools. Ms Symes said the budget included more than $1.8 billion in statewide education projects, including $948 million to deliver the remaining 16 new schools.

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