Box Hill Schools In Budget

The State Government has announced that a temporary school is being fasttracked for the growing Box Hill area with enrolments set to open from 2025.

The government will begin work on a new primary school and high school at Box Hill, in addition to the new primary school in Gables currently in planning. Together the three schools will cater for 3000 local students with room to grow.

Both Box Hill and Gables primary schools will be delivered with co-located public preschools to increase access to high quality early education.

Nearby, the state’s most populous school campuses at Riverbank Public School and The Ponds High School will receive significant additional funding for further upgrades on top of those already underway, to cater for their large and growing student populations.

New schools have also been announced for Tallawong which will get a new public school and a new high school.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said: “This is a must-have investment in the future of Western Sydney families.

‘“Growing communities, including Box Hill, have been waiting years for this announcement. It means they’ll be able to access quality public education close to home.

“It builds on the investments this Government has already made to build stronger communities and better schools by funding critical infrastructure and paying our teachers more.

Member for Riverstone Warren Kirby said: “For years children from Marsden Park and Box Hill have had to travel to Riverstone just to access a public school,

“The delivery of these local schools will not only have a positive impact on our children’s education, it will also reduce traffic on critical roads like Richmond Road, Windsor Road and Garfield Road.”

Funds for the new Primary School in the Gables will also include an on-site public preschool.

A site for the new primary school was acquired in early 2023 between Fontana Drive and Cataract Road at Gables.

The Government will be using the Manufacturing for Schools program (announced in February this year) which it says will deliver cost savings of up to 20 per cent and slash construction time by up to 30 per cent.

It incorporates a range of cutting-edge construction techniques including digital technologies, off-site manufacturing and on-site assembly of prefabricated elements to deliver high quality school buildings faster and at a lower cost than with traditional construction methods.

At Oran Park Public School, a stage two upgrade that opened for students to use on day one, Term 1 2024, was installed on site in eight weeks. From design to completion, the project took a total of 13 months.

The Government says the new program will reduce carbon emissions, material waste and water waste on sites in comparison with traditional construction methods.

At the time Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said: “This is an economical, sustainable, and speedy solution that will deliver school facilities meeting the needs of our growing population, while getting better bang for taxpayers’ buck.”