New multi-million dollar sustainable school officially opened in Atwell

5/11/04
The unique $8.4million Harmony Primary School in Atwell has been officially opened today by Education and Training Minister Alan Carpenter.
The environmentally friendly school, located in the GreenSmart subdivision of Atwell South, incorporates a number of ecologically sustainable design principles including the recycling of grey water and landscaping designed to reduce water usage.
Mr Carpenter said Harmony Primary School, which was completed in July, was one of 10 new or redeveloped public schools worth $65million built by the Gallop Government during the 2004 school year.
Housing and Works Minister Nick Griffiths said today the Department of Housing and Works had strongly participated in the development of the school's environmentally sustainable design.
"Experience gained through this project will be useful in guiding the design of future schools," Mr Griffiths said.
"Considerable research was carried out so that normal standards were enhanced, and the final design, which is consistent with the Gallop Government's Sustainability Strategy, has provided a healthy and productive learning environment and workplace."
Mr Carpenter said the school had included other sustainable principles, such as a high proportion of native plantings to support biodiversity and a below-the-surface bore water irrigation system to minimise the use of mains water.
The quality of the indoor environment had also been improved by the elimination of carpets from the classrooms and the use of low-allergen floor coverings.
Local MLA Paul Andrews said there had been strong involvement with the City of Cockburn, Landcorp and the local community in the school's development.
"The $855,000 community centre was provided on the school site by the City of Cockburn and students worked with Landcorp and the city to create a tile mosaic at the centre's entrance," Mr Andrews said.
"Landcorp also donated a set of football jumpers, contributed to the official opening, to help fund the community centre and donated two grasstrees for the school's entry statement."
Mr Carpenter thanked the parents and teachers for their dedication and commitment to the school and the students.
The school has 12 classrooms, three early childhood classrooms, an Education Support Centre, a library resource centre, a music room, an art/craft room and a covered assembly area and canteen, an administration block and hard courts for tennis, netball and basketball. There is also an automatically reticulated grassed oval.
The school was designed by Taylor Robinson B & N Architects and is being built by Geo A Esslemont and Son - Building Contractors.
The Minister said responsible economic management by the Gallop Government had produced a balanced Budget each year for the last four years, enabling the State Government to boost the Education and Training Budget by more than $1.5billion since 2001.
"The previous Liberal Government had five deficits in eight years, running down the State," Mr Carpenter said.
"In contrast, the Gallop Government's strong financial performance has enabled us to increase the Education and Training budget by more than $1.551billion or 26.5 per cent."
Responsible economic management has enabled the Gallop Government to:

• spend close to $217million on building new schools over the last four years, an increase of more than $38million or 21 per cent on the previous Government's record;

• announce an extra $65million to clear the entire public school maintenance backlog currently on the books, above and beyond the normal school maintenance budget;

• employ an extra 954 teachers in public schools across the State; and

• increase retention rates to Year 12 to its highest level in more than a decade.