House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Lake Windemere School LAKE WINDEMERE SCHOOL Mrs VLAHOS House of Assembly Taylor Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:23): I am delighted to speak this afternoon about the $6.8 million Lake Windemere CPC school redevelopment that is about to occur in the seat of Taylor. It recently passed the Standing Committee for Public Works. As the local member of parliament, last week I toured the school with school leaders as part of a community morning tea to inform local community members and organisations about the exciting developments happening on this site. Some of these include the soon to be relocated chicken shed from one of the old sites where the children will be able to care for chickens, the new gardens that are being established and their new BER hall. Only last year the new school opened with its new name of Lake Windemere on the old direct site. The Interim School Council and I sought special consent for the use of this name, as the Geographic Naming Board had initially rejected the community balloted preferred name. I was pleased to inform them that the then minister Weatherill and now premier Weatherill was pleased to support the community's view on the naming of the new site as Lake Windemere CPC. Indeed, the recreation park next to the school is the reason for the name. The school has a strong affinity and custodial relationship with the open space of Lake Windemere. Its new uniform was balloted on by the students and reflects this emphasis in green, black and white. The school is very committed to sustainability and maintenance of the local environment through stewardship at a community and educational level. The City of Salisbury is also currently seeking to upgrade the lake precinct, with local community providing solid feedback on the way forward. I am truly happy that the Weatherill state government has provided $6.8 million of funding to give this school the vital upgrade it needs and deserves. I know the community will be pleased for this new stage in the school's life. The Chairperson of the Interim School Council, Dawn Westmoreland, has stated that 'the upgrade fits perfectly with the community's vision for the Lake Windemere School.' When the Salisbury North West School and Direk School elected to close and establish Lake Windemere, our vision was to build a school with first class resources for excellent educational outcomes for our students. This is echoed by the deputy chairperson, Stewart Sparrow, who expressed a similar sentiment: This is also a great investment on behalf of the SA state government. We will be aspiring for great things. The redevelopment will accommodate a maximum of 600 students and is scheduled to be completed in June 2013. The benefits of the $6.8 million school upgrade include: the construction of a new children's centre facility; three general learning areas; a new car park; landscaping; an upgraded administration area, which will include new work spaces, a sick room, plus a new street frontage presence for the school; and greater flexibility in learning areas and state-of-the-art ICT in all facilities. Congratulations to the Lake Windemere CPC school community and educational team. I know you look forward to these exciting changes and I look forward to sharing the opening of these new facilities with you in mid-2013.