Melton Specialist School is to get a long-awaited facelift, with the state government announcing $5.4 million in funding for the school in this week’s budget.
Multiple portable classrooms have been set up across the school site to cater for its growth, encroaching on students’ outdoor play areas.
While details of the works have not been finalised, school principal Evan Savage said he expected permanent classrooms would be built and outdoor space better utilised.
“I’m a bit sketchy on the details, but certainly there will be significant improvements to classrooms,” Mr Savage said.
“We’re a school that caters for some of the most complex and vulnerable students in Melton and Victoria, but we lack any purpose-built facilities … which will make a tremendous difference to opportunities we can provide for students.”
Mr Savage said this money was the largest funding boost the school had received.
“We currently have 280 students,” he said. “They’re not crammed into classrooms, but I don’t think the school was designed to cater for that many children.
“With the rapid increase we’ve just been trying to meet the demand so it’s taken away from other areas.”
