Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has announced Federal funding for an historic expansion of St Raphael’s Catholic School at Cowra to cater for Years 11 and 12 students.

Visiting on Tuesday, Mr Taylor congratulated the school community on its successful application for $2.262 million under the Federal Capital Grants Programme.

“This is a great funding commitment for a very worthy project – the expansion of St Raphael’s to allow senior students to study at the school for the very first time.

“I understand plans are well underway for the building works to be carried out in 2015, with the first Year 11 students to start in 2016,” he said.

Showing Mr Taylor the architectural plans for the project, St Raphael’s principal Michael Gallagher thanked the Federal Government for its support and said the new facilities would open up many more opportunities for students.

“We have a wonderful opportunity here to design a modern curriculum and we want to look at the needs of the local community we serve. So we need to offer pathways of academic excellence and we need to cater for students who are interested in the trades and need practical assistance with skills training.”

Mr Taylor congratulated the school community on broadening the choices for students. “I understand there are five new classrooms planned, technology and design facilities, visual arts facilities, a new science laboratory and preparation area, as well as two VET (Vocational Education Training) areas focusing on construction and hospitality.

“The building works will more than double the existing footprint of the school and allow St Raph’s to cater for Year 11 students from 2016 and its first HSC classes in 2017. I know this is an incredibly exciting time for the school and the wider Cowra community.”

Further information on the Capital Grants Programme is on the Dept of Education’s website:  http://education.gov.au/capital-grants-programme-non-government-schools.

Caption: Angus Taylor with St Raphael’s School principal Michael Gallagher and Cowra Mayor Bill West looking at plans for the multi million dollar expansion of St Raphael’s school in 2015.