By Mitchell Clarke
A private Christian school in Officer has received almost $5 million in State Government funding to build and upgrade facilities at non-government schools.
Heritage College received a share of the $402 million funding, which will be distributed to Catholic and independent schools over the next four years.
The money will be used towards extending existing primary facilities at the Officer campus, the State Government announced on Tuesday 10 December.
The Gazette was told the funding will enable the campus to further develop facilities for students, including group learning spaces, additional classrooms, a music room and a primary multipurpose area which will meet the needs of the school’s expanding cohort.
Developed plans indicate that an additional eight classrooms will be built, which will “comfortably” house primary students over the next few years.
By 2020, Heritage College expects to teach 160 secondary students and 100 primary students at their Officer campus and 150 at the Narre Warren South campus.
Principal Sonny Aiono said the funding will ensure facilities at the school will be able to keep up with the growing demand for education in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs.
“We’re grateful for the State Government’s support in providing this substantial funding,” Mr Aiono said.
“This will allow us to meet the significant growth within the local community.”
Over the next five years, an extra 115,000 students are expected to enter the education system, making Victoria the fastest growing state.
Currently, more than one-third of those students attend non-government schools.
“Every student deserves access to modern school facilities and with more than a third of Victorian students attending non-government schools, they’ll be sharing in our record investment,” Education Minister James Merlino said.
Tuesday’s announcement is part of the State Government’s $1.82 billion investment in education infrastructure.
“Families make their own choices about where their kids go to school, but no child should miss out on a great education – that’s why this funding is so vital,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.
“We’re delivering record funding for new and upgraded schools, both government and independent – so our kids
It’s expected Heritage College’s expansion will commence in early 2020, before students return to the campus.
