State election 2018: Liberals pledge $5.5 million Box Hill High School

A HIGHLY popular secondary school in Melbourne’s east will get millions of dollars to cater for a booming student population if the Coalition is elected to government next month.

Box Hill High School is in high demand by families Picture: Kris Reichl

ONE of Whitehorse’s most in-demand secondary schools will get millions of dollars to help it deal with a booming student population if the Coalition is elected next month.

Box Hill stage Liberal MP Robert Clark last week promised his party would put $5.5 million into the school to manage the “ever increasing population throughout Box Hill and Blackburn”.

Opposition education spokesman Tim Smith said: “Only a Liberals Nationals Government will support Box Hill High School’s need for more classroom space and allow it to maintain its solid tradition of academic excellence.”

MILLIONS PLEDGED FOR GROWING SCHOOL

PLEDGE TO BACK SCHOOL’S REBUILD

Box Hill principal Losh Pillay said the school urgently needed help to expand its teaching space.

“We are desperately in need of funds to ensure our facilities are at the standards we need them to be,” she said.

Box Hill High School is in high demand by families Picture: Kris Reichl

Ms Pillay said the school needed more permanent classrooms and technological space, and to upgrade some “fairly decrepit” portable classrooms.

She said the school was required to cap enrolment at 1250 students, but demand was much higher.

With the school accepting every student in its designated area, plus students in its international program, it has 1300 students on its books this year.

But there are many more wanting to attend the school, which is known for the high performance of its students.

“We have incredible demand from students who live outside the designated area,” she said.

Last year, under the Andrews Government, the school lost its permission to take enrolments in its gifted students program from outside its designated zone.

BLOCK FUELS VILLAGE’S GROWTH

BROKEN GLASS PLANTED ON KIDS’ BIKE TRACKS

PLANS FOR $40M CENTRE REVAMP

Education Minister James Merlino said the Liberals couldn’t be trusted “to deliver on any school announcements”.

He said the Andrews Government had made a “record investment in school infrastructure”.