LAVERTON P-12 College principal Neil Sproal yesterday visited an autism school at Wantirna in Melbourne’s east as plans take shape for a prep-to-year12 autism school for Melbourne’s western suburbs.
The western school will cater for children from Hobsons Bay, the City of Melbourne, Maribyrnong, Brimbank, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham.
Mr Sproal said $4million state government funding to complete the redevelopment of the Laverton mainstream school might have been a decade
away had the Education Department not proposed co-locating a new autism school on the mainstream college’s Bladin Street campus.
As reported by the Weekly, $4million promised to Western Autistic School at Niddrie in last year’s budget was last week redirected to building a new autism school at Laverton.
The new autistic school will be close to Western Autistic’s Laverton school, which caters for children in prep to year 3.
“As well, they’ve got the autism teaching institute there so it’s the location where people who are studying autism
come from all over the state,” Mr Sproal said. “Currently, they can’t cater for the large number of kids with autism. The autism school being located on the same site would provide opportunities for the students – I would assume – at the autism school to, where possible, operate in mainstream classes, particularly specialist classes and those sorts of things.”
