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- 7 March 2001
James Busby High School Facilities
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Speakers - Lynch Mr Paul
Business - Private Members Statements
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Page: 12346
Mr LYNCH (Liverpool) [12.21 p.m.]: I wish to advise the House, and the Minister for Education and Training in particular, of matters affecting James Busby High School, which is in my electorate of Liverpool and caters for my constituents. James Busby High School is a good school where good things happen. However, the work that is performed there could be further improved with some upgraded facilities. In particular, the school community requires a proper school hall. The arguments were well put in a letter I received from Margaret Carroll, the President of the James Busby High School council. Part of that letter states:
Following discussion at the last two meetings of the school council we wish to request that the Department of Education and Training place James Busby High School high on the list of capital works projects for the construction of a school hall. I feel that there are factors that should be considered when prioritising our submission.
Firstly, the school is over thirty years old and has been housed in demountable buildings for all of that time. A large one of these demountables has been designated as a hall. It is considerably smaller than any other school hall.
The school population is increasing. Cecil Hills High School is no longer taking "out of area" applications. Many of these students will now come to James Busby High School. We have 208 applications for year 7 in 2001. All other high schools in the Liverpool district have good sized halls. With one thousand students, we are one of the largest high schools in the Liverpool district but do not have a decent school hall. James Busby High School is classified as a disadvantaged school under the Federal Government's disadvantaged schools program. I feel the lack of a hall is adding to our students' disadvantage. It is very difficult to enhance the culture of the school when there is no opportunity to have whole school formal assemblies.
It is not possible to hold a school musical, to have a presentation day, to have indoor sports or to accommodate all our students for the school certificate and higher school certificate examinations. Trial formal examinations are very difficult to conduct. There is no space for students during wet weather. The school staff, students and parents all feel that a school hall is necessary if we are to lift standards in our growing school.
The letter further states:
Finally, I am aware that funds for capital works are limited but I would ask you to keep in mind that the RTA will be acquiring land from the school for the Liverpool-Parramatta rapid bus transitway. Perhaps these funds could be used to help pay some of the construction costs.
I took the opportunity of visiting the school on Thursday 22 February. On that occasion I met with the president of the school council, Margaret Carroll, and various staff members. I was able to see the existing facilities and view the site for the proposed new hall. There are certainly difficulties with the building that is currently called a hall. I understand that the current departmental classification is that it is a multipurpose space rather than a hall. There is no doubt that it is not large enough. The school can only fit in students from two years of the school at any one time, and even then only by squeezing them in.
Lighting in the hall is less than ideal. It has no fans and inadequate ventilation for a capacity crowd. It is freezing in winter. As detailed above, the school cannot fit all its school certificate examination candidates in the room. For those who can fit, there are difficulties. The canteen and toilets are adjacent to the current hall, and this poses real problems with noise levels. Another point made to me concerning the hall involves the Liverpool to Parramatta transitway. The transitway is relevant to a new hall in several ways. The first relates to funding.
A significant amount of land will be lost from the school grounds for the transitway. This land is adjacent to Rundle Road. A strip of land 18 metres wide running the whole length of the frontage of the school on Rundle Road will be acquired by the RTA for the transitway. Informal estimates suggest that the cost of acquisition will be about $500,000. It would not surprise me if the value is eventually greater, which means that, with the introduction of the transitway, the department will have access to extra funds. The school argues, reasonably, that this money should remain at the school and be redirected to the construction of a school hall.
The second relevance of the transitway relates to the entrance to the school. The current entrance is via Rundle Road from the east. This will become impossible with the transitway. The new entrance will be to the south, via Brolga Crescent, which is off South Liverpool Road. The significance of this is that the proposed site for the new hall is near the Brolga Crescent entrance and thus would become the gateway to the school. If a new hall were constructed there, a new building would become the introduction and entrance to the school.
It is worth noting that there are two schools adjacent to James Busby High School—Busby West School, also in Rundle Road, and Busby Public School, in South Liverpool Road. Of course, both of those schools would be able to utilise the hall. James Busby High School is in an interesting position in the Liverpool area. Originally, when the Green Valley area was first developed, James Busby High School was almost regarded as an overflow school. Another two high schools were put there with permanent buildings; James Busby High School had relocatable buildings. However, because of the growth in new release areas, James Busby High School is now in the centre of the residential area and in fact has many more students attending it than do the other high schools in the area. The demographic changes have changed the role and significance of the school. It is for that and other reasons that a new hall should be provided so that its facilities can catch up with those of the other schools in the area.
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