By Bonny Burrows
Asbestos-clad buildings at Bayles Regional Primary School will be safely demolished, the State Education Minister has announced.
The regional primary school’s 1970s arts and music room, along with classroom and toilets containing the dangerous material, would be replaced with a permanent architecturally-designed modular multi-purpose room.
Education Minister James Merlino announced the $400,000 upgrade during a school visit on 8 September, and said the new facilities would be ready for day one, term one next year.
He said precautions would be put in place to ensure the school and local community was not affected by the asbestos removal and potential risks.
“All asbestos will be removed outside of school hours so as to not impact anyone. The community will be notified of the works as well,” Mr Merlino said.
Mr Merlino said a benefit of the modular buildings was their quicker planning and building times, resulting in less disruption to students, staff and teaching programs.
“The use of modular buildings allows us to remove dangerous asbestos with less disruption to our schools – a great outcome for local students, teachers and staff,” Mr Merlino said.
Acting principal Alison Andrews said news of a new building was “amazing”.
“It’s very exciting and great for the future of the school. To have a fresh, new facility to learn in will be fantastic,” Ms Andrews said.
