Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (00:26): Last Saturday I held a community meeting about the disgraceful state of Gillieston Public School. The meeting was attended by some 80 community members, including four councillors, one of whom was Mayor Councillor Loretta Baker. I thank Katie and Thomas Ferguson and Todd and Sharon Sellers, who were proactive in getting people to attend the meeting. They sent me a great summary of it and I drew on that a lot for this speech. I said on the day that it is vital that we work together as a community to get the school upgraded. I acknowledge that the education Minister and the Premier were invited to the meeting but could not attend. However, the education Minister has requested a follow-up. I am hoping to meet with them this week.
An urgent list of infrastructure priorities was put together at the meeting, and I thank Todd and Katie for their work in collating that list. The student toilets at the school are demountables. They are hot in summer and cold in winter. They are emptied by a truck every two weeks, with the smell being overwhelming and sickening at times. During the 2015 floods, they sectioned off a significant portion of the school playground that was rendered unusable. The toilets must be permanent buildings that are connected to town sewerage for health reasons, just like the houses across the road from them.
The steel school fencing must be raised to the standard 1,800 millimetres to 2,100 millimetres to keep our children safe inside and trespassers out. I raised the issue of high-vis vests being used to look after children who leave the school. Since then I have been told that the school has been directed to essentially hope and pray that students do not leave. They do not let the children wear the vests, which is completely dangerous and unacceptable. A level playing field is also a problem. It is not just a philosophical issue, it is an actual issue. A substantial portion of the playground is on a significant slope that is causing students to sprain their ankles. In fact, one little boy talked about that and his concerns when he plays sport. A lot of other kids do not even try to play sport because of that issue. Please, level the school playing field.
The school hall is a composite of several demountables that are joined side to side. It does not have disabled access or air conditioning and is too small to fit the full student body in one sitting. Please, build a permanent air‑conditioned structure with disabled access for assemblies where the entire student body can go at one time. Perhaps then their parents or carers can also attend. I am advised that there are eight demountables. Sometimes I hear there are nine because the other buildings are not permanent. Another one or two are planned for delivery in 2022. The school needs permanent building spaces. That school has been sitting on that site since 1858. It is one of the fastest growing areas in my electorate. I think we can give the kids and teachers a permanent learning and teaching space to use.
The front office, sick bay and staff room are also demountables, and there is inadequate parking. That should also be provided. The school needs parking for students and visitors. At the moment there is no visitor parking. There will be a development across the road on Ryans Road. Our traffic committee a couple of weeks ago talked about the fact that the developer will have to upgrade its side, but what about the school? The canteen is currently a shared demountable without disabled access or appropriate air conditioning. The canteen ladies have set up their own air conditioning. There is no appropriate ventilation or cooking facilities to support the fundraisers or day-to-day canteen activities. Some parents cook at home to help support the canteen operations. The school needs a proper, modern facility. The library is currently a shared space squeezed into half a classroom in one of the only two permanent buildings, which again impacts on accessibility, usage and reading standards. The school needs a permanent library.
In addition to those priority ticket items, there are also no permanent sporting facilities. There is no sealed court marked up for netball and basketball. The grounds are not level, but there is no permanent soccer and rugby league goals. There is no permanent school sporting storage facility for storing netballs, basketballs or soccer and rugby league balls. There are no permanent facilities for music, theatre lessons or practice. There are no covered walkways between classrooms and the hall or canteen, so they need to be installed. I beg the House to support me and the parents of Gillieston and most of all the kids, to get the school facilities they deserve.
