An independent Wollongong high school has been handed more than $1 million in state government cash to upgrade its facilities and cater for an increasing number of enrolments.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The government this week awarded $1.17 million to Edmund Rice College, with the money to be put towards a multimillion-dollar arts precinct project at its West Wollongong site.
An old monastery, which has been acquired by the college, will be redesigned as a creative arts hub that features three art classrooms, a pottery room and a gallery space.
The project is worth $3.1 million, with the balance of the cost to be met by the school community.
The college’s existing art rooms will be refurbished into Technological and Applied Studies (TAS) design classrooms, while a new hospitality kitchen and cafe is also being installed.
Edmund Rice principal Peter McGovern said the school had grown “fairly quickly” and now had an enrolment of just under 1100 boys.
As a result, Mr McGovern said the school had embarked on an extensive infrastructure building program during the past five years, but creative arts had been somewhat overlooked.
“What we’ve been doing is putting the school into precincts over the past five years. We've spent about $16 million,” he said.
“The school’s grown about 40 per cent in that time. Being a central Wollongong school we’re sort of pulling kids from north and south, and so we’ve been growing fairly quickly.
“So we really did need to up the ante, just in terms of the number of classrooms and also in terms of our level of resourcing.”
Mr McGovern said the $1.17 million from the NSW government would allow the college to “do a little bit more than what we might have been able to do otherwise”.
Parliamentary secretary for education, and Kiama MP, Gareth Ward announced the funding during a school assembly on Wednesday.
The money comes from the government’s Building Grants Assistance Scheme (BGAS) – a fund set up to help non-government schools.
The grants are directed towards independent and Catholic schools with the greatest need.
Mr Ward described the cash outlay as “a great result” for Edmund Rice.
“There are a lot of very-needy Catholic and non-government schools that need assistance. This is one way we can assist parents and students and teachers at those schools to get the resources they need,” he said.
The BGAS is funded by the state government but administered by the Association of Independent Schools NSW and the NSW Catholic Block Grant Authorities.
Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
