New classrooms and administration area for St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School

Students and staff at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School in Bundaberg will have full use of new classrooms, a covered outdoor area, carpark and administration area thanks to funding from the Coalition Government.

Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt officially opened the new facilities today on behalf of the Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham.

“It was great to visit St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School and see the new facilities firsthand and the impact they will have on students’ learning potential,” Mr Pitt said.

The Coalition Government delivered over $2.1 million in funding from the Capital Grants Program. 

Mr Pitt said students and the whole school community would benefit from these new facilities.

“These new learning spaces take into account the latest in educational research and will see students learn more effectively.”

“This is part of our commitment to ensuring students have the support they need to succeed in the classroom.”

Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said in addition to funding for projects like St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School’s new classrooms and administration area, the Coalition Government was also delivering a new funding system to ensure every student gets the resources they need. 

“Catholic systemic schools in Queensland will also benefit from increased funding under these arrangements. Funding for the Queensland Catholic Education Commission is estimated to grow from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $1.4 billion in 2018, $1.6 billion in 2021 and $2.0 billion in 2027. This represents an average per student increase of 3.7 per cent each year over the next four years,” Minister Birmingham said.

“We know that funding and buildings alone don’t make a great school, so we’ve asked a panel of education experts led by David Gonski to recommend how schools can best use the extra resources we’re delivering to boost student outcomes.”

“Families and teachers can see exactly what our $25.3 billion funding boost means for their local schools by visiting our funding estimator at www.education.gov.au/qualityschools and they can learn more about our quality reforms.