Pretoria - The dream of having a new school will finally became a reality for the Westlake community in the Western Cape.
On Friday, Western Cape Education MEC Donald Grant officially opened the construction site for the new Westlake Primary School, which is one of 25 new schools prioritized for construction in the next three years as part of the department's infrastructure plan.
Speaking at the sod turning ceremony Grant explained that the need for the new school followed last year's meeting between the department and Westlake community members, who stressed the need for a new primary school in the area.
"A baseline audit to ascertain where we should target our future infrastructure interventions confirmed the need for a primary school in Westlake, so we made an undertaking to investigate the different options available to us so that we could get this process moving as swiftly and as fast as possible," Grant said.
He said that by turning the soil, which prepares the foundations of the site, they are ensuring that resources are being channelled to the foundation stages of learning in the province, particularly in grades one to three.
"Once the foundation has been prepared, we can then lay the bricks and mortar, this is where we target the intermediate stages of learning and this is where the building takes shape.
"As we move on to the final stages, like targeting specific areas such as the windows, doors and paint, we in the province are ensuring that all learners get the assistance and resources they need to pass in the subjects they have chosen for their final NSC examinations," Grant said.
The school's construction was made possible through a co-operative venture between provincial Government Departments including Environmental Affairs, Development Planning and Local Government Public Works, Finance, Education, the City of Cape Town as well as the Ackerman Foundation, who contributed funding to the school's building.
The school is expected to be officially opened in late 2011 or early 2012
