Education Minister visits Kensington Primary as school pushes for election commitment

Kensington Primary School’s long-running campaign for the Victorian Government to finish outstanding building upgrades has gained fresh momentum, with Education Minister Ben Carroll visiting the school on June 1.

The Deputy Premier’s visit followed sustained advocacy from the school community and recent reporting by North West City News on the unfinished works in the school’s original 145-year-old Block A building.

Mr Carroll was joined by City of Melbourne councillor and Labor candidate for Melbourne Davydd Griffiths, while Greens MP for Melbourne Ellen Sandell, who is also a Kensington Primary parent, also attended.

The visit was welcomed by the school community as a positive step, but school council president Dave Frazer said the focus was now on securing a firm election commitment ahead of November’s state election.

“We were very appreciative that he made the time,” Mr Frazer told North West City News.

“We’ve obviously been pushing pretty hard to get him out there to show him our challenges first-hand, so it was certainly a good opportunity to do that.”

Mr Frazer said the minister appeared receptive during the visit and that the school’s needs were “glaringly obvious”.

This isn’t a new request in any way, shape or form, he said. “These are issues identified in a master plan that his department prepared, and we just want to see that through in its entirety.

Kensington Primary received $7 .365 million in state funding to upgrade Block A, with works completed in 2022. But the school council says only around 60 per cent of the original master plan was delivered after COVID-era cost escalations reduced the scope of works.

The unfinished section still requires significant upgrades, including accessibility improvements, heating, insulation, carpets, window repairs and acoustic treatment.

A major concern remains disability access, with more than 100 students and staff still required to climb three flights of stairs to reach upstairs classrooms in parts of the building not serviced by the existing lift arrangement.

In a video posted to Facebook by Mr Griffiths, Mr Carroll described Kensington Primary as “a wonderful school” and “a school of choice in this beautiful part of Melbourne”.

“Our government has invested $7.3 million to do stage one of their master plan, but also we’re wanting to continue to build on that investment,” Mr Carroll said.

“Here we are looking at stage two and what’s required.”

Mr Griffiths said teachers at the school were doing “a fantastic job” and needed facilities to match.

Mr Frazer said the visit had come after letters from the school council and wider parent community, which Mr Carroll had acknowledged as effective advocacy.

“They did make it clear that it was the advocacy from the parents, from school council and then subsequent follow-up letters that our wider community sent to the Minister, that resulted in him visiting,” he said.

“To his credit, he did say your advocacy has been really beneficial to the school, and it does work.”

But Mr Frazer said the visit could not become a “box tick” for the department.

“That wasn’t the end game,” he said.

“We’re certainly going to be pushing hard in the coming months. Our ultimate objective would be to see it bedded down as an election commitment.” •

Caption: Member for Northern Metropolitan Sheena Watt, Education Minister Ben Carroll and Labor candidate for Melbourne Davydd Griffiths.