Overcrowded St Leonards Primary School uses gym floor for teaching space while transportable building is empty
CHILDREN at a crowded western Adelaide school are being forced to sit in the gym for classes — preventing the PE teacher from using it. Meanwhile an empty building has been off-limits since last year.
CHILDREN at an overcrowded Glenelg North school are enduring “disgraceful” conditions, using a gymnasium as a classroom while another building has remained off-limits for months, parents say.
Parent Glenn Barrack, who recently gave a talk to some St Leonards Primary students, said they were forced to sit on the “cold floor” of the gym while another class was run in the same temporary teaching space.
“I found myself in competition to talk over the speaker of the other class who were just a few metres away, which isn’t ideal for a learning environment,” he said.
Parent Amanda Morris said: “It’s not ideal what’s happening, but you can’t close the school. Where are you going to put the kids?”
Enrolments have grown steadily from 274 in 2012 to 372 last year, and 394 this year.
Parents’ anger over classes having to use the gym since Term 1 is fuelled by seeing an old transportable building, capable of housing two classrooms, sitting unoccupied in the school grounds.
It was brought in from another school late last year and would raise the school’s capacity from 390 to 440.
“A lack of planning on the part of the Department of Education appears to have brought this about,” Mr Barrack said.
“I think the school itself is the victim here. The staff are incredible and I think they’re doing a really great job under the circumstances.”
Another parent, giving his name as Stuart, said his gripe was the transportable “eyesore” had been collecting dust for eight months.
Principal Dave Henty-Smith assured parents that by August the transportable would be fitted out with two new classrooms, along with a balcony, then repainted and recarpeted.
“The quality of education has not been disrupted in any way, shape or form,” Mr Henty-Smith said.
“The gym has been a really good space … it’s caused a few issues — for instance, we can’t have assemblies in there and the PE teacher can’t use it — but the quality of learning hasn’t been affected.”
St Leonards and the Education Department had formed a partnership with nearby schools to direct parents to those that had vacancies.
Education Department acting executive director John Scalzi said the new classrooms would be ready by the end of August, halfway through Term 3. “The building needs to be connected to services, such as water and electricity, and requires upgrading to ensure it meets current Disability Discrimination Act compliance,” Mr Scalzi said.
He said the connections, and a wait of up to 20 weeks for building approvals and tenders, had drawn out the process.