March 5, 2018 at 12:28 pm
Plans for new Primary school in Victoria reveal no new school but an extension of Middle School – Students and Educators deserve better
The MUT has seen a copy of plans being submitted by the FTS to the Planning Authority for the proposed new Primary School in Victoria. Rather than building a new school, plans reveal a proposal to carry out an extension to the existing building of the Middle School in Victoria to house Childcare, Kindergarten and Primary school students. The Middle School in Victoria, which has been refurbished in the past years, has already limited outdoor space and facilities and has to use school facilities of the adjacent Secondary School. The proposed extensions will drastically reduce the outdoor space, which is required in any school, leading to insufficient facilities for the existing Middle School students and the proposed Childcare, Kindergarten and Primary School students.
Furthermore, the proposal shall mean that one of the schools shall be sandwiched between the other one and the existing Sports Complex. This has implications due to the resulting limited exposition of classrooms to direct sunlight. The proposed extensions shall also mean that the identity of both the Middle School and the Primary School will be lost. Upon a visit at the Middle School by MUT officials, it transpired that the school community was aware about the plans whilst MEDE officials were denying, even with MUT, that there were any plans for the school. The MUT would have expected that the school community, which includes educators at the two schools, were involved in discussions about the proposal.
The MUT questions why the current dilapidated building (known as Ninu Cremona block) in the same schools complex is not used as the site for the new Primary School. The Union fails to understand how the said block, which was always part of the schools complex, has been passed to the Museums department and was clearly never used and left in a dilapidated state. The Union affirms that the said block is the natural area for the new primary school whilst an alternative site should be provided to the Museums department. The MUT is appealing the Government to rethink the proposal for the benefit of Students and Educators in both schools whist reaffirming that students and educators at the Primary school in Victoria cannot wait any longer to have the proposed new Primary school.
