STUDENTS at Tarneit Senior College will be without an indoor canteen, auditorium and dedicated physical education centre after the school missed out on funding in this month’s state budget.
The money was needed to begin stage two of the years 10-12 school, which opened in February.
The school has a handful of general purpose classrooms built to accommodate its 75 students, with a science wing and technical area to open in a few weeks. But principal Michael Fawcett said students would miss out on many subjects until stage two was funded.
He said the next stage of buildings would be needed in the next two years, with enrolments expected to swell to about 500.
“The lack of funding for stage two is going to stop us specialising in all areas. We won’t get a food room, so students will have to study hospitality through VET … we’ll have to bus them to other schools around Werribee.”
Mr Fawcett said the school had expected to miss out in the budget, given the state of Werribee’s Galvin Park Secondary College, but was disappointed to have received no official word from the department.
He said the school had turned part of its trades wing into a weights centre. “If we hadn’t done that, we would have a school with no physical education areas.”
An Education Department spokesman said while the government was not able to fund all schools in every budget, it recognised there were significant needs and was working towards upgrading schools. -Laura Little
