Maiden Gully Primary School receives $4.59 million for upgrades

Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards announced the funding on Thursday as part of the 2020-21 state budget.

The school previously received $510,000 last month through the state government's Infrastructure Planning and Acceleration Fund.

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Maiden Gully Primary School principal Craig Arrowsmith said the money would go towards creating more permanent classrooms.

"This is an exciting time for our school community and state education," he said.

"It's a great opportunity to get something under way.

"The emphasis will be around enhancing the opportunities for students. What I mean by that is delivering some modern facilities for good learning to take place and to enable the children to work collaboratively in an adaptive and flexible environment."

Mr Arrowsmith said there were 570 students enrolled at the school in 2020, with the cohort expected to grow in the coming years.

"If anyone knows anything about Maiden Gully, it is that it's a strong growth corridor within the City of Greater Bendigo," he said.

"It's a quickly growing area and we want state education to be well represented. We have a great school, great teachers, and a fantastic community. We want to give them the best of state education."

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Mr Arrowsmith said the funding would ensure the project could start, although more funding would be needed in the coming years.

He said the announcement was exciting after a challenging year of COVID-19 restrictions.

"We are getting back to where we were in the pre-remote learning times," Mr Arrowsmith said.

"This is exciting and it's the cherry on the top to hear the government is giving everything they can to support the local community and help the local economy.

"We're really grateful to be part of it all."

Ms Edwards said the state government wanted to support schools in the region.

"Families in Maiden Gully have done a phenomenal job in supporting students to learn from home," she said.

"As kids return to their classrooms, we want to make Maiden Gully Primary School better than before.

"Not only will this make sure our kids are getting a great education, it'll create new local jobs.

"I would also like to thank the school community for their ongoing advocacy for these works through their personal representations, petitions, and their letters."

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