Children and young people with chronic medical or mental health issues will be able to continue their education and keep in touch with classmates at a state of the art school to be built at the new Monash Children’s Hospital.
Premier Daniel Andrews, Minister for Education James Merlino and Minister for Health Jill Hennessy today visited the hospital to meet young patients and announce the new $6.8 million Monash Children’s Hospital School, which will include four flexible-use classroom spaces, a computer lab and office space for staff.
Students will also be able to use systems installed on each bed, iPads or their laptops to video conference with their own school to keep up to date with their studies and communicate with classmates and teachers.
Children who spend long periods of time in hospital can easily lose the supportive links with their regular school – the new hospital school will help keep students engaged so they don’t fall behind in their education.
The $250 million Monash Children’s Hospital is on track to be completed later this year, with the new school set to open in 2017.
The Andrews Labor Government is building the Education State so that every community has access to great schools and every student has the chance to succeed.
This includes a record $1.8 billion to build new schools and upgrade hundreds of existing schools, including the new Monash Children’s Hospital School.
The Labor Government also delivered an extra $2.45 billion for health in the Victorian Budget 2016/17 so hospitals can admit more patients, reduce waiting times, upgrade buildings and infrastructure and keep Victorians healthy.
Quotes attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews
“All kids deserve access to a great school, and recovering in hospital should be no barrier to getting the very best education.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education James Merlino
“Schools are an important part of a child’s support network. Students need to maintain those links and keep up with their studies during a lengthy hospital stay, which they can do at the new Monash Children’s Hospital School.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Jill Hennessy
“We know that being in and out of hospital is really tough on kids and their families – this means seriously ill kids and their families can have peace of mind that they won’t fall behind with their studies while undergoing treatment.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020