Yallourn North Primary School will receive $20,000 to replacing its aging, non-compliant outdoor play equipment with a modern $50,000 playground for its children.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester visited the school this week which was one of 11 across Gippsland to share almost $200,000 from the Federal Government.
“It is a great pleasure to be able to help some of our local schools to realise projects they would otherwise struggle to complete,” Mr Chester said.
“Supporting local funding across Gippsland and fundraising can be difficult. This means many high-priority projects to help students in their learning or their physical development simply can’t go ahead.
“Our schools are the focus of many towns and districts, so by supporting our schools we are supporting our community.
Yallourn North Primary School principal Kieran Kenneth said the school’s playground had served the school and students for nearly three decades.
“Our playground is old and tired and does little to inspire creativity or to challenge the children,” Mr Kenneth said. “It has served our school well, but is at the end of its life.
“All of our 128 students from prep to grade six will be able to use the new playground.”
Mr Kenneth said the school had worked for seven years to save $30,000 for the playground, but was still a while away from raising the full $50,000 needed.
“We were still a few years away from being able to fund the new playground by ourselves, so it was with great relief and excitement that we learned we’d been successful with our grant application,” Mr Kenneth said.
“The new playground will be used by generations of children. Our school is in the small town and we are home to the biggest local playground. Children will be able to use the playground in and outside school hours in a safe environment.”
