Catherine McAuley Catholic Primary School will receive more than $2.55 million to increase classroom size to better incorporate technology and bring two staff rooms into one.

Principal Michael Croke said the funding was very welcome, with the school originally a secondary school, built in the 1960s. 

“The time has come where we need to enlarge those rooms into contemporary learning and teaching areas,” he said.

“We’ve burst out of our rooms, you could say. They were designed for rows of desks and we’ve moved on from that now.”

Mr Croke said some of the school buildings would be gutted and rearranged, with some additional classrooms built.

“The Hill Street facade will also look a little bit more contemporary,” he said.

He expected the $3.65 million project to take eight months, subject to weather conditions and hoped to have the work completed by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Orange Anglican Grammar School will receive $550,000 towards its $1.22 million plan to build four classrooms, a library and an outdoor amphitheatre.

Principal Len Elliott said the classrooms would be ecologically designed and give the school greater flexibility.

“We always had enough space, but we had to be pretty careful about how we used it,” he said.

“This frees up other areas of the school for things such as special music rooms.”

He expected work to start within the next month and finish by November.

The two school communities will contribute the remaining funds not covered by the grants, which were confirmed on Monday as part of the state government’s Building Grants Assistance Scheme.

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au