Classrooms to be replaced at Glenroy College thanks to State Budget funding

Tired classrooms and administration areas at Glenroy College and a dangerous Coburg North roundabout will be no more thanks to State Budget funding. See who else got cash.

Sarah Jefford and with her children Archie (6) and Raf (3) at the Coburg North roundabout in 2017. Picture: Josie Hayden

Sixty-year-old classrooms at Glenroy Secondary College will be replaced as part of a $9.2 million overhaul.

The school’s administrative buildings and 14 classrooms will be rebuilt under an education cash splash, which was central to last week’s State Budget.

An $11.9 million replacement of a roundabout at the intersection of Gaffney and Sussex streets in Coburg North was also included in the budget.

State education minister James Merlino and Pascoe Vale MP Lizzie Blandthorn with students and staff at Glenroy College

The school will get $6.7 million towards the project in 2019-20 and principal Anne-Marie Crivelli said masterplans would be drawn up in the next fortnight.

The works were an election promise from Pascoe Vale state Labor MP Lizzie Blandthorn.

Ms Crivelli said the works would help the school grow from 465 students to about 800 in the next four years.

“While we have been maintaining what we have very well, they are still ageing and it’s hard to retrofit things with new technologies,” she said.

“I know that previous principals have been arguing for rebuilds and finally the State Government has recognised that and agreed.

“We need a strong state education system, we’re only as good as our lowest performer and I think it’s important that all schools have facilities that encourage students to perform at their highest.”

Ms Blandthorn, who worked with the high school for several years to secure the cash, said the new buildings would match the quality of the hardworking staff at the college.

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Brunswick North West Primary School was also given $436,000 towards a $623,000 update of its ageing buildings.

Ms Blandthorn said she was pleased to secure the roundabout replacement.

“We are removing this dangerous roundabout so people can get home to their loved ones safely,” she said.

The carpark at Merlynston railway station in Coburg North will also be replaced with 355 paved spaces and a bicycle cage as part of a statewide carpark fund.