By Jordyn Grubisic
OUR Lady of the Way Catholic Primary School in Wallan East officially opened and blessed its new senior building on Thursday.
The school received $3 million in State Government funding for the project and Our Lady of the Way principal Terry Cooney thanked everyone involved in the development.
“A lot has been accomplished in five years with the next stage being our multipurpose hall so that’s well and truly in the process of planning,” he said.
“Thank you to everyone who made this project possible. It’s actually the first time in the five years that we’ve actually got spare rooms. Our specialists [classes] have rooms they can actually go to.
“It’ll be the first time we won’t have to move furniture in January, which is lovely so we’ll be like a proper school where people can just come back and everything will just be there for them, which is great so thank you very much.
“There’s been considerate growth in enrolments and that’s why we needed this building.
“Originally, we had plans for eight classrooms and we just realised it wasn’t going to be enough so we went up to the 12.”
Parish priest Father Prakash Cutinha led the ceremony and blessed the building accompanied by year five pianist George and a choir of year two students.
Member for Yan Yean Lauren Kathage attended the opening and said she was proud to see the developments.
“It’s so wonderful to officially celebrate an exciting new chapter for Our Lady of the Way Catholic primary school,” she said.
Ms Kathage said the building was a ‘wonderful new space’ for the school.
She said attending the opening allowed her to hear how the teachers and students were using the new space, and how it helped to ‘inspire students, foster their creativity and create a love of learning’.
“Of Victoria’s one million students, one-third go to a non-government school just like this one,” she said.
“That’s why we’ve committed nearly $1 billion since 2015 to upgrading Catholic and independent schools across the state to help new schools in growing areas where they’re needed and help existing schools like yours.”
Ms Kathage said the best way that students could thank those involved was through ensuring they made ‘the most of every new learning opportunity the building offers’.
