By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
DEPUTY Premier and Minister for Education James Merlino paid a visit to Emerald Secondary College on Wednesday (28 October) to discuss with staff the use of $1.5 million provided to the school in the state budget.
The money will be used to modernise and extend a room used for storage so the school has an updated and centralised centre for their integration program.
Emerald Secondary College will have 60 students enrolled in the program in total next year and principal Jodie Doble said the new building would make a huge difference.
“We really need that extra space,” she said.
“Programs will all be run the same way they are now, but in a cohesive central space.”
Ms Doble said the new centre would make it easier for visiting specialists to get where they needed to go and do their work properly.
Mr Merlino said the school did an excellent job catering for students who had a disability and deserved the support of the government.
“Emerald Secondary College is a great example of how Victorian children are being supported to reach their full potential,” he said.
The program is currently being conducted from a single old portable classroom that is no longer meeting the needs of the staff and students.
The college also runs a brain auditory training (BAT) program as part of the integration program, which supports students who may have brain development issues.
Part of the building upgrade will be to develop the BAT program to further help student development and learning abilities.
The new building will also include consultancy rooms where specialists such as speech pathologists and learning aides will have space for one-on-one learning sessions.
Ms Doble also said the school would be working closely with community organisations such as Emerald Centre for Hope and Outreach Inc. (ECHO) Youth and Family Services to find a best practice model for the new centre.
“We are looking into a model for after hours community use as well,” she said.
“We want to work with ECHO to deliver services for the benefit of the school and the community but there is a still lot of work to do.”
While the school has picked a location and secured the funding for the new centre there is still the processes of design, department approval, selecting a contractor, and getting the build started.
Despite the size of the task at hand, Ms Doble is confident construction will be underway in the next 12 months.
