Wednesday, 31 August 2022

 Ms TERPSTRA (Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51): It was with great delight that I visited earlier in the week Burwood East Primary School with the Minister for Education, Natalie Hutchins MP, and John Mullahy, our fantastic candidate for Glen Waverley. I was very pleased to have a tour of the school—

A member interjected.

Ms TERPSTRA: I know—fantastic candidate. I was very pleased to have a tour of the school and look at the fantastic learning spaces that are on offer there. But what is even more brilliant is, thanks to the Andrews Labor government, we are investing $8.031 million to ensure that these very deserving students are getting a new senior learning community that includes a dedicated STEM learning space. This will be an area that is dedicated to staff as well, and also the landscaping around the school and grounds will be zhooshed up, as it were. A new covered outdoor learning space will also be provided.

I was really impressed when we were touring the school to see that they have already got a very cohesive learning environment that includes STEM and they have got some amazing 3D printers there. It was really good to see the teacher that provides the learning in that space. All the printers are named after Seinfeld characters, so we had a great laugh about that, but we also saw that these printers were very hard at work printing all amazing manner of things. The students really embraced their learning in that space as well. And what was also really fantastic to see was the transference of skills, not only in the STEM area but also towards the arts, because critical thinking skills are immediately transferable, whether they are science skills or art skills.