By Sahar Foladi
Councillor Sean O’Reilly has resigned as the School Council President at Springvale Rise Primary School after 13 years.
“I think the school Council is in good hands. It’s in the best state I’ve ever seen while I’ve been on the school council.
“We’ve got dedicated school councillors so I retire from at peace knowing the good works, decisions, the harmonious ways the school council operates will continue,” Cr O’Reilly said.
The school has two campuses in Springvale, Heights campus and Springvale campus located in the central of the suburb.
During the years Cr O’Reilly was president, the school had seen a modern structure of buildings in both of the campuses.
“The Springvale campus is a historic building it’s over 100 years old. We’ve renewed the classrooms in there brought them up to date,” Cr O’Reilly said.
The school awarded Mr O’Reilly for his support as the President for School Council at the Springvale Townhall.
Acting Principal Jodie Pyman acknowledged the councillors commitment to the school and said, “During this time Sean has worked collaboratively with other members of School Council to enhance the educational opportunities for all students.”
Cr O’Reilly had his kids attend this school with his youngest graduating from the school this year.
“The School is unique, distinctly multicultural and it’s got all the resources and capabilities to support that community, furthering the needs of students along the ladder of opportunity.”
Cr O’Reilly said an important aspect of the school is its partnership with Noble Park English Language Centre which provides children of newly arrived migrants with zero English to fast track their way to mainstream schools.
“That’s the case for my daughter who came from Vietnam at the age of 5, joined the Noble Park English Language Centre she had virtually no English when she came to Australia, very quickly got up to speed and is now excellent student in University,” Cr O’Reilly said.
Located one of the diverse suburbs in Greater Dandenong, the Springvale campus was the advocated for and first school in Victoria to be what’s known as multi-cultural aid.
Cr O’Reilly said it started in Springvale, “Now we see it across a lot of schools.”
As a symbol of his commitment to the school, Cr O’Reilly planted a tree on the Springvale campus of the school.
“It will also act as a tangible representation of the commitment that Sean has provided to the school. On behalf of the whole school community, I wish Sean all the best in his future endeavours,” Ms Pyman said.
