08 Feb 2024
Many schools around the ACT have received infrastructure upgrades during the 2023/24 summer holidays to improve access and inclusion for all students.
The ACT Government has allocated $100 million as a part of the Infrastructure Renewal Program to contribute to strengthening inclusive education. This includes improving the physical environments of schools to enhance access and participation for all students, considering their mobility, sensory and learning needs.
The Education Directorate’s Inclusive Education: A Disability Inclusion Strategy for ACT Public Schools 2024-2034 envisages schools where “Design allows flexibility over time, is responsive to the needs of the children and young people and supports the safety and wellbeing of all.”
The Strategy recognises that:
“Inclusive infrastructure is more than a building that is designed to a certain specification or making buildings physically accessible. Our learning environments are built to be welcoming and accessible to diverse learners, including children and young people with sensory processing needs. These learning environments aim to develop the whole child or young person – intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically and culturally”.
See below for a list of the 13 schools that received upgrades over the summer holidays to assist in strengthening inclusion in our schools:
School | Works delivered to improve inclusion |
|---|---|
Arawang Primary School | Accessibility upgrades to bathroom and playground. |
Campbell High School | Staircase handrails. Internal landscaping. |
Canberra College | Additional handrails in accessibility bathroom. |
Florey Primary School | Courtyard upgrades. Extra classroom doors. |
Macgregor Primary School | Bathroom, fencing and playground modifications. |
Maribyrnong Primary School | New accessible toilet amenity. |
Melba Copland Senior School | Classroom-specific upgrades. |
Miles Franklin Primary School | Break-out quiet spaces and administration area corridor accessibility upgrades. Arts Centre – Indoor learning area and accessible bathroom and toilet. Outdoor play area: rubber soft fall, structural swing and sandpit and concrete paths. Instalment of additional spaces with a flexible format to cater for all learners. |
Namadgi School | Access enhancement in reception and hall. |
Neville Bonner Primary School | Courtyard upgrades. |
Telopea Park School | Safety upgrades to junior stairwells. |
Torrens Primary School | Upgrades to doors and courtyard. |
Wanniassa School Senior Campus | Works to improve inclusion. |
To learn more about the Education Directorate’s Disability Inclusion Strategy, visit Inclusive Education: A Disability Inclusion Strategy for ACT Public Schools 2024-2034.