$100,000 FOR BLUE MOUNTAINS SCHOOLS

The numbers of students walking through school gates has fallen to a trickle, but schools throughout the Blue Mountains will hopefully have new projects ready when they get back to normal.

Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman recently announced grants worth more than $100,000 for 11 schools across the Blue Mountains, for projects ranging from preparing for bushfires to an outdoor performance space.

The schools successfully applied for funding under the Federal Local Schools Community Fund, which provides a contribution for small scale projects and their associated costs.

Mountains primary schools that received funding under the program included Katoomba North Public School, Wentworth Falls Public School, Lawson Public School, Springwood Public School, Blaxland East Public School, and St Canice’s Primary School.

High schools including St Columba’s Catholic College, Springwood High School and Winmalee High School also received funding, as did independent schools Mountains Christian College and Korowal School.

Ms Templeman said she was very pleased to see such a diversity of programs receive funding in the local area.

But the fact that schools across Macquarie applied for more than $737,000 worth of projects from a pool of just $200,000 showed how both the State and Federal Governments needed to invest more in education, Ms Templeman said.

“It’s fantastic to see schools receiving funding for critical issues such as upgrading emergency evacuation systems and bushfire preparedness, as well as healthy initiatives such as Blaxland East’s Healthy Food, Healthy Garden project,” Ms Templeman said.

“Schools around the Mountains have demonstrated a real need for this funding, and I congratulate them on presenting thorough applications for such diverse projects.

“I take the responsibility of distributing grants within the community very seriously, and our panel considered a range of quality applications worth just over $258,000 from public schools, $40,000 from Catholic schools and nearly $110,000 for independent schools in the Blue Mountains alone.

“Parents groups always carry a heavy fundraising load for schools, so I am pleased that this funding will go some way towards easing that burden on such a hard-working group of local volunteers.

“But this really shows that the State and Federal Governments have dropped the ball when it comes to funding our schools. I give them an F – must do better.”

Blue Mountains schools that received funding under the program included:

• Katoomba North P