Demountables at Burwood Public to be replaced under NSW Labor

Burwood Public School’s 11 demountables will be replaced by permanent classrooms under a NSW Labor Government.

Shadow education minister Jihad Dib, Burwood Public school Students Eddy Bock, Hermoine Dossantos and Nimisha Sudhakar with Strathfield MP Jodi McKay. Pictures: John Appleyard

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Burwood Public School’s 11 demountables will be replaced by permanent classrooms under a NSW Labor Government.

P & C president Oliver Bock said the move would free up much needed playground space.

“The eight storey apartment building being built next-door is going to overshadow the small bit of grassed area we have and the rest of the land is taken up by demountables, which are across the road from a busy road and the western rail corridor,” Mr Bock said.

“The demountables have poor noise insulation, which makes it hard for students to concentrate and hard for teachers to make themselves heard.”

The 11 demountables at Burwood Public would be replaced by permanent classrooms.

A new classroom building would also enable “shared learning” and shield students from the new development, he said.

Shadow education minister Jihad Dib said the new classrooms would be delivered as part of Labor’s plan to replace 1000 demountables across the state.

The money would come from diverting $500 million away from the Liberals $2.2 billion “stadiums splurge”.

“We know this school will grow in terms of numbers so let’s make sure we provide the infrastructure,” Mr Dib said.

Burwood Public P & C President Oliver Bock with his son Eddy, 10. Picture: John Appleyard

Strathfield state Labor MP Jodi McKay said the Burwood Public has the most demountables out of any school in the electorate.

While the Liberals had spent more than $36 million to deliver 64 new classrooms at Homebush West, Marie Bashir and Croydon Public schools, Ms McKay said Burwood had “missed out”.

“When you look at the number of apartments going in around here you can see the school will rapidly grow so replacing demountables is a really good start.”

The NSW Liberals have labelled Labor’s plan as a “half-baked copycat education policy”.

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Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said Labor’s demountables policy represents less than half the program of permanent classrooms currently being delivered by the NSW Liberals and Nationals.

“We’re already replacing more than 1000 demountables with permanent airconditioned classrooms as part of the 2000 classrooms we are currently building; Labor’s plan only does half the job, in twice the time.”

There are 570 students at Burwood Public School which is less than previous years after the Department of Education shrunk the school boundaries to manage the population increase.