mmg.com.au

Toolamba Primary School is looking forward to an exciting year thanks to a substantial increase in its prep intake and the building of its new school.

Two years after the old school and kindergarten were destroyed by fire, the slab for the new building was poured last week.

School principal Heather Kennedy said the whole school community was delighted to see the base for the new school in place.

‘‘We’ve had a good, smooth start to the year and we’re all very excited to see the new building underway,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s lovely for the children to see it developing and to see where their new classrooms will be.’’

The new school is expected to be completed early July and Ms Kennedy said she expected to have students occupying the new building for the start of term three.

The future of Toolamba PS is also looking very good in terms of student numbers with 29 new preps starting school this year and 113 students enrolled overall.

‘‘On average we take in 16 to 17 preps each year so 29 is great and they have all settled into school well,’’ Ms Kennedy said.

‘‘We are expecting 16 preps to join next year and 24 the year after, so our projected numbers are also good.’’

Ms Kennedy said a number of subdivisions around the town had helped to bring families in and increase numbers.

‘‘We have an excellent transition program with the maternal health program and kinder all located on the same site to help facilitate this,’’ she said.

The school committee is also working on plans for a new kindergarten, to replace the one destroyed in the 2010 fire, and there is also a community project to provide a new joint-use playground for under-5s.

Ms Kennedy praised the community for its support in helping the school to recover from the fire and also the work of school business manager Jenny Davey and school council president Cameron Pogue.

‘‘It’s been a long, complicated process and has required a lot of commitment from everyone involved,’’ she said.

‘‘It feels like we’ve done the hard work and now we’re ready to move on.’’