AN 18-month, multimillion-dollar building project at Albury North’s Wewak Street School will be completed this month.
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School principal Linda Cain said the development had been “truly massive” in scope.
“The school community is just so proud and so are the kids,” she said.
“They feel more valued, their self-worth goes up — it just makes everything better for everyone, really.”
Zauner Construction began the latest job in December, 2012.
“We’ve had huge improvements to the school,” Mrs Cain said.
That included six new classrooms, a kitchen, three bathrooms and practical skills areas, a staffroom and a library.
Every building at the school — which caters for students with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities — has been given a new roof.
The school hall has been renovated, as have other buildings, bathrooms and the administration block.
Mrs Cain said the last major job was a rebuild of the front of the school, although a few smaller projects were yet to be tackled.
Other work completed included a basketball court and in-ground trampoline, both under cover.
“A lovely thing about it all is the school had a lot of input in the design,” Mrs Cain said.
“We worked closely with Steve Scane and the asset design team at the Education Department and Zauner.
“The teamwork meant we could plan specifically what we wanted in our rooms.”
Mrs Cain said that involved making buildings bigger and more wheelchair friendly.
“We have several visually impaired kids, so we needed contrast between floor, wall and tile colours. Those things that matter for a special school,” she said.
Mrs Cain said the rooms were lined with a felt-board that greatly helped the teaching and learning experience.
“We use visual for our kids — they learn visually much better than in other ways,” he said.
Mrs Cain said felt-board allowed teachers to put reading words, photos and maths problems directly onto walls.
“We also have a practical skills area and bathroom attached to classrooms — with vinyl floors — so they’ve a space for art work and things slightly messier.”