ONE of Wyndham’s oldest schools is urging the state government to address maintenance problems.
The Grange College’s school council president, Noel Moodie, said no significant infrastructure had been added to the Hoppers Crossing senior campus since it was built 20 years ago.
He said the school was suffering from water damage, drainage and roofing problems and burst irrigation pipes. Four wings of the secondary school have been without heating for 12 months.
“There has been a lack of maintenance and we have been warning it will fall over,” Mr Moodie said. “A recent review said we were in good condition.”
Mr Moodie said the school hoped to follow in the footsteps of Werribee Secondary College and Wyndham Central College, which have received state funding for redevelopments in recent years.
He said The Grange’s primary school was built to accommodate about 300 pupils – about 800 are now enrolled.
Tarneit MP Tim Pallas said the school was forced to add portable classrooms to deal with population growth and now had 27 portables across two campuses.
Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury said the government had to balance repairing existing schools with building new ones.
An Education Department spokesman said the school’s buildings were rated higher than the threshold to attract funding.
He said the department had reviewed five buildings and expected to make a decision on their need for repair by the end of this month.
The department was working with the college to find a solution to its heating problems.
