Page 1709 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 June 2021
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MS ORR: Minister, when is the next new public school opening in Canberra?
MS BERRY: The next new school opening in the ACT will be in Throsby. In 2021, people will recall that at the start of this year our new school in Denman Prospect, Evelyn Scott School, opened. There will be a new primary school in Throsby, as I said, this year. In 2023 a new high school in Kenny will be opening as well. The school in Throsby will include areas such as a large community room and kitchenette, a multipurpose double gym, changeroom facilities, turf sports fields and outdoor multipurpose hard courts for all the students, school staff and others to enjoy. The school will also be Canberra’s third zero emissions school, something that the ACT government is enormously proud of.
Then the new high school in Kenny will accommodate 800 students, and will include general and specialist learning areas, a performing arts space, a double gymnasium, small group programs, natural turf playing fields, external hard courts and a kitchen garden as well as various external learning environments.
MR PETTERSSON: Minister, how does the design of new schools meet the needs of an increasingly complex student population?
MS BERRY: I thank Mr Pettersson for his really important question. The government sets its design specifications for school infrastructure to set the functional and technical requirements for new schools, expansions and modernisation projects. These specifications are informed by research and evidence on how physical spaces can best support learning and create great workplaces for staff.
The aim for the school designs is to enable personalised learning, develop community partnerships, honour diversity and foster wellbeing. Design also must consider cultural connection to Ngunnawal country, the land on which the school is built. Infrastructure improvements are underpinned by the principles of universal design to increase accessibility of school sites for all students, improve the provision of inclusive education programs, and design aspects in school designs, such as inclusive playgrounds.
In the last term of government the ACT government invested over $15 million in infrastructure improvements for the development of safe and inclusive public school environments. This included projects and upgrades such as sensory gardens, outdoor courtyards and playgrounds, classroom modifications to support sensory play, and appropriate withdrawal spaces, as well as the establishment of spaces for small group learning. These kinds of areas were carefully designed and established in collaboration with the school communities and allied health experts to ensure that they were safe and appropriate, and met the needs of those school communities.
Municipal services—Tuggeranong dog park
MS LAWDER: My question is to the Minister for City Services, relating to the closure of the Tuggeranong dog park in Greenway. Minister, dog owners have informed me that signs regarding the closure of the dog park were erected on 19 May,
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