LOXTON North School’s principal says she feels like she has won the “cash cow” after the school received $20,000 from the State Government.
The local preschool received the grant as part of the government’s $32 million economic stimulus package to undertake priority maintenance work on school grounds.
“It’s money that we never had,” said Vanessa Wainwright, Loxton North School Principal.
“We would have had to wait and put money aside for the next three years to go ahead and do these projects.
“And because we have vocational care and a playground at our site, it will bring the facilities to a higher standard.”
Schools are encouraged to use local businesses and tradespeople to complete the upgrades in order to boost the state’s economy and employment.
The school has already identified projects to be undertaken using the grant money, including repairing one of the pergolas, installing a roller door for easy access to sandpit toys, storage racks for bikes and building a skeleton pergola over the sensory path.
Ms Wainwright said it is “lovely” to be able to turn around and help other businesses in the community during this time.
“We’ve already made contact and have gotten quite a few quotes for the pergola to be repaired, the roller doors (to be installed), and the framework, which will help our facilities and our site,” she said.
“It’s not a massive project that needs someone to engineer it or cover specifications.
“It’s about putting money back into the community, not about it being a long project.
“It’s things that can be done quickly by people in the community.”
Ms Wainwright said the money needed to be spent within approximately two months, and as such, development on the projects will be underway soon.