The Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has labelled the expansion of St Raphael's Catholic School to cater for stage six students as a win for the whole region.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Visiting Cowra last week, Mr Taylor congratulated the school community on its successful application for $2.262 million under the Federal Capital Grants Program.
"This is a great funding commitment for a very worthy project - the expansion of St Raphael's to allow senior students to study at the school for the very first time," he said.
"The reason I'm so excited about this is that I fought for the Catholic high school at Yass but it was shut down. This is a sweet victory."
Showing Mr Taylor the architectural plans for the project, St Raphael's principal Michael Gallagher thanked the Federal Government for its support and said the new facilities would open up many more opportunities for students.
"We have a wonderful opportunity here to design a modern curriculum and we want to look at the needs of the local community we serve. So we need to offer pathways of academic excellence and we need to cater for students who are interested in the trades and need practical assistance with skills training," Mr Gallagher said.
Mr Taylor congratulated the school community on broadening the choices for students.
"I understand there are five new classrooms planned, technology and design facilities, visual arts facilities, a new science laboratory and preparation area, as well as two VET (Vocational Education Training) areas focusing on construction and hospitality," he said.
"The building works will more than double the existing footprint of the school and allow St Raph's to cater for year 11 students from 2016 and its first HSC classes in 2017. I know this is an incredibly exciting time for the school and the wider Cowra community."
Cowra mayor Bill West also welcomed the funding and said the expansion was a "great initiative by the school".
"St Raphael's Central School is a great supporter of the Cowra community and I expect the community will support them in turn," Cr West said.
Construction work will begin next year, with the first year 11 students to start in 2016.