A new primary school in Kalkallo welcomed its students, staff, and families on Tuesday last week with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony.
Banum Warrik Primary School, one of seven primary schools to open last week completed under the Victorian School Building Authority, has embraced Indigenous culture through the school’s design, name and within its logo.
The school was built as part of the State Government’s 2022-23 Budget to build eight new primary schools – four new secondary schools and two new specialist schools across Victoria’s fastest-growing areas.
Just under 140 students are enrolled at the Kakallo school, with more students expected to come by the end of the year.
Anthony Potesta was appointed as principal, while assistant principal is Amy Andrew.
Mr Potesta said he looked forward to seeing it all working together.
“It’s just nice to see it all come together, we’ve been working at this for the last six months, we have had a great opportunity especially since we’ve been in since December to meet our families, do a whole lot of work with staff – we feel really prepared,” he said.
“We’ve got a beautiful community, got beautiful staff and the Welcome to Country ceremony was kind of a coming together of that, to really set us off on the right path.”
The school can now benefit from its brand-new facilities and design, including an administration and library building, two learning neighbourhoods, a community hub with indoor multi-use court, canteen and arts/music, hard courts, a sports field, and a carpark.
Once the school reaches a certain number of students, the school has the capacity to have a two-storey building on site, which would cater for additional classrooms, and has the space for portable classrooms.
While the school will provide its specialist subjects, such as physical education; science, technology, engineering and mathematics; music; and art, Ms Andrew said the school would also incorporate cultural acceptance into its curriculum.
“We know that kids in our school come from really diverse cultures, so we’re going to do a lot around culture and sharing their cultures and being accepting of all the different cultures that come into our school,” she said.
“That could include having special days or inviting families in or people from the community.”
Member for Kalkallo Ros Spence, who attended the school’s first day, said the new school would help families receive education closer to home.
“This is a wonderfully vibrant, diverse community and it grows everyday, so to have this new school open is incredibly important,” she said.
“We’ve got young families moving in here, and for them to be able to go to school closer than they otherwise would is just a real benefit.
“To also have it adjacent to the community centre, where there’s a kindergarten, it really helps with that double drop-off.”
The school is located at 2 Koeks Vista, Kalkallo.
For more information, the school has a Facebook page at Banum Warrik Primary School.
