PAGE 32 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, July 30, 2013
WONTHAGGI
A day out in...
Fire station for the future By Jane Ross WONTHAGGI’S new $2.8 million fire station has been designed and built to one day accommodate paid staff.
Welcome: Edith Gray is the new principal at Bass Coast Specialist School. With her are Kyla Sheerin,14, and Josh Moran, 17. Josh says his main attribute is his determination, a trait that has set him on an amazing trajectory with his reading.
New head for specialist school By Jane Ross BASS Coast Specialist School has a new principal. She is Edith Gray who took up the role at the start of this term. “This is a beautiful looking school,” she said. “The students are engaging and so welcoming, so are the staff. They all look happy, it’s very warm and welcoming and open to new ideas.” Her five year vision includes a sustainable and successful school that is student centred. “My main question always is: will this benefit the student?” She also believes in a culture of high achievement with an expectation students will reach their potential.
She is undertaking a masters in school leadership through which she is exposed to all the most recent philosophies of leadership. “The way we are moving is for teachers to work in a professional team.” There are eight teaching staff at the Bass Coast Specialist School, together with education support staff in every classroom. They’re necessary because of the high needs of the students. There are 40 and some are dual enrolments, which means they spend part of the week at the specialist school and the rest at a regular government school. Ms Gray said students from Wonthaggi Secondary College do work experience at the specialist school too. The new principal is excited by the prospect of
an education precinct on the large site adjoining the school. “I’ve always pushed integration and inclusion so I hope the precinct happens.” The specialist facility is the first stage; the second will be a new secondary college senior campus. Education Minister Martin Dixon has inspected the site but made no promises. Ms Gray has come to Wonthaggi from the Merriang Special Developmental School in Lalor. When she began there over 17 years ago, the school had two classrooms. When she left – as a leading teacher – there were 100 students. Before that, she was a secondary school teacher. “My children have left home and I thought this was a good opportunity to try something different.” The sea was a drawcard too. And she is not the only staff member new to Bass Coast Specialist School. Joeylyn Pastor and Eli Curry have joined the team and fill in teacher Kerryn Kutny has been appointed to a regular position. “All the other principals in the area have been very welcoming. I already feel like I’ve been here forever!”
The brigade has a long and proud history of voluntary service but Captain Kim O’Connor said the town is growing so much, he can see the day, perhaps a decade hence, when staff will be needed. In order to accommodate them, the administration sector of the new facility has been reinforced to allow an upstairs extension. Members have had a lot of input into the project which Mr O’Connor said has been five years in the planning. And the brigade is putting in $100,000 of its own. Their close involvement has meant the addition of lots of extras such as electric gates, 35 parking spaces and provision to house a tele-
boom, a tall crane that rains water down on a fire from height. The brigade doesn’t have a teleboom – yet. But with its history of remarkable fundraising, the modern piece of equipment is only a matter of time. The new station is four times the size of the old one, with four tanker bays and doors with electric motors that split in half and go up quickly. That it is needed has been underscored by figures quoted by the brigade captain. “We had 215 calls last financial year, up from 98 the one before. So far this financial year, we’ve averaged one call a day.” The design is such that fire vehicles will head out the motorised doors, returning to drive around the back of the station and go back to their bays without any need for reversing. That is far more efficient and fits with VicRoads’ standards. TS Constructions of Wonthaggi gained the tender and foreman Maurice Jagoe said the building has
reached fit out stage. It’s huge, on a large site. Brigade members negotiated a swap deal with Bass Coast Shire Council. The council now owns the current fire station in Watt Street, in turn giving the CFA land in White Road. “Apart from saving $1 million, it meant we could go to the CFA and say we’ve got land for a new station,” Mr O’Connor explained. With residential growth booming in the Wonthaggi North area, Mr O’Connor sees the site as being in a perfect position to service Wonthaggi’s needs. “We’ve removed ourselves from the commercial area.” The front yard of the fire station will be landscaped and part of the past will come too. The bell outside the Watt Street station will sit proudly in a donated frame, out the front of the modern facility. The new station should be ready by October.
Great facility: every time Wonthaggi CFA Captain Kim O’Connor (right) checks progress on the new fire station in White Road, he has a grin on his face. His fellow volunteers toured it at the weekend. With Mr O’Connor is TS Constructions foreman Maurice Jagoe.
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