New, higher-quality classrooms and tearing down existing buildings which have passed their used by date are a part of the Bendigo Special Developmental School's master plan.
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The long overdue upgrades will cater for the student base who live with a range of physical and mental disabilities.
The developmental school will receive a share in the Victorian government's $235 million investment allocated in the next financial year's budget, which will be spread amongst all special developmental schools in the state.
School principal Kirshy McAinch said the money would hopefully go a long way to benefitting the staff and students by supplying better facilities to work and study in.
"We were really fortunate to be funded for a masterplan," she said.
"That is a really in-depth look at all the different elements that a school needs and that gave us an opportunity to really prioritise what would be the first cab off the rank.
"At the same time in a way that we can still operate the school because we can't just shut down the school and come back to perfectly built buildings."
Ms McAinch said the need for upgrades was highlighted to Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan and Premier Daniel Andrews during their visit last year.
She said the school has had "really frank" conversations with parents about what their children needed to survive and thrive at school.
Better facilities needed
Family support worker at the school, Meg Holmes, echoed the sentiments of the principal about the need for better facilities.
Ms Holmes said she was initially a parent to a student before joining as a teacher. Then she was asked if she could operate as a family support worker - she jumped at the opportunity.
"I think a lot of people don't know (the difficulties of having children with disabilities) we have a lot of families who are isolated," Ms Holmes said.
"If you have a child that has behavioral problems and they might have a 'tanty' in the supermarket parents are often blamed.
"I don't think a lot of the community sees what we do and how hard some of these children are to work with and the pain and the pressure on the families."
The school's principal said although there was quite a long "wish list" on repairs and upgrades it was good to see the the funding promised at the last state election be allocated in the most recent budget.
Ms McAinch said an added benefit of the upgrades would be to help with its rapidly growing cohort.
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"We have definitely seen a huge growth in student numbers, right today we have an enrollment of 151 students," she said.
"I think there is about six phone calls I need to reply to ... for pending enrollments so we are just seeing a greater increase in numbers in school.
"I hope and I think it is because parents are voting with their feet about recognising that we are an excellent education (facility) for students."
Ms Allan toured the school on June 7 and said it was fantastic all special developmental schools across the state were receiving funding to help with upgrades.
"This is all about providing students no matter where they go to school the additional services and support they need to get the best education," she said.
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