Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently visited Strathmore Secondary College in my electorate, where I took a tour of the school's facilities, including the very impressive Victorian Space Science Education Centre. I got to visit their 'Manned mission on Mars' work, and I got into a spacesuit as well. It was a fantastic tour. In speaking to the principal, Jill English, I talked about a number of things, particularly the rapid increase in enrolments for 2018. The enrolments continue to grow in line with the population in the neighbourhoods surrounding the school. There were 305 year 7 students in 2017. This has gone up to 370 in 2018.

While the school continues to deliver results for students and parents, I'd like to voice my support for the school's master plan and its bid for funding from the Victorian government so that the school can commence a capital works build that will see the construction of two new three-level teaching blocks to allow the school to continue to do its good work. The continued academic success of the current and future students of Strathmore Secondary College—and it has an excellent academic record—relies on ensuring there is enough space for them to learn and for the 140 teaching staff, who do a fantastic job, to be able to do their job to the best of their ability. That's why I support this funding for a build that is upwards because they are landlocked between the freeway and Pascoe Vale Road. These upgrades are critical for the school to meet the demand into the future.