Schools Funding

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-97230

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

Schools Funding

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (15:26:50):

I address my question to the Minister for Education.

The SPEAKER:

Order! Members will come to order. I need to hear the question. Government members will come to order.

Mr MARK COURE:

How is the Government delivering new classrooms across New South Wales?

Mr ROB STOKES (PittwaterMinister for Education) (15:26:59):

— I thank the member for Oatley for his question. He has been a passionate and consistent supporter of public schools in his electorate. He demonstrates how consistent and persistent advocacy can result in great outcomes; that is, unprecedented investment in schools to support the great work being done by our teachers and the great learning outcomes being experienced by students and their families. This Government has a focus on delivering infrastructure across the State. As the Premier said earlier, record funding of $390 million has been set aside for school maintenance over the next two years. She went on to say that funds will be allocated to schools across New South Wales based on need to ensure that every community gets its fair share to address the maintenance challenges facing their schools. This Government has a plan for the future of infrastructure in education and it will ensure that our children have the best possible learning environments.

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of joining the Premier and the Minister for Women, the member for Mulgoa, in opening the new $17 million Fernhill School at Glenmore Park, which will cater for a special group of students and their parents. We had the opportunity to meet the principal, Julie Raciborska, and her team, who are doing an amazing job building the school as part of a new community. William, the school leader, gave a passionate and eloquent speech welcoming us to their fabulous learning environment. It was wonderful to meet students at the nearby Glenmore Park High School, who have been supporting the Fernhill School from its beginning. Ellie, a year 12 student at Glenmore Park High School, was responsible for designing the logo for the Fernhill School, which represents a beautiful connection between the two schools.

This very special school presently accommodates 47 students and can cater for the needs of up to 120 students with a range of disabilities from kindergarten to year 12. The school will support them to achieve excellence in their own lives and ensure that they are equipped to make a difference in our community. I am glad to be part of delivering this exciting new school. All schools, particularly schools like Fernhill, are about fostering great supportive relationships between teachers, students, their families and the local community. We are shaping the built environment of our schools to support the best possible teaching and learning outcomes. A host of research illustrates the connection between learning spaces and learning outcomes. As pointed out by Jill Blackmore from the Deakin University, recent literature shows that by effectively designing schools and classrooms to accommodate new learning techniques we can assist the best possible teaching learning outcomes in those spaces.

This Government has provided more than $1 billion directly to schools or through specialist programs and services to assist students with disability or special needs in either regular or support classes. In 2017 an extra 124 specialist support classes were established in New South Wales public schools to cater for an additional 850 school students. Our assets register details about $25 billion worth of assets across 2,200 schools in New South Wales. It is an ongoing challenge to meet the school infrastructure and maintenance needs, and the additional almost 20 per cent funding, which was announced this morning, will go a long way to help schools across the breadth of New South Wales. It is a significant challenge to address the projected more than 20 per cent enrolment in public schools in the next 15 years. That is why this Government established a new specialist unit, Education Infrastructure NSW—to ensure that we have the expertise to consult directly with communities in designing schools to get the possible outcomes for our students.