Students and teachers alike will be protected by the new school zone at the new entrance to Saint Mary MacKillop College on Fernleigh Road. Photo: Chris Roe.
It’s hoped that an extended school zone along Wagga’s Fernleigh Road will help to protect children at two schools in Wagga’s southwest.
The small independent Catholic school, Saint Mary MacKillop College, is in the process of building a broad new access road with an entrance alongside the Ambulance Station on Fernleigh Road.
To ensure the kids are safe and drivers are aware of turning traffic during drop off and pick up, the existing school zone at nearby Henschke Primary School will extend west from Hely Avenue towards the Glenfield Road intersection.
Independent Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr said the change is expected to add just 9 seconds to commute times.
“I think given the number of students here, and of course, we’ve got Henschke just up the road, you can’t put a price on the safety of children, and particularly close to a busy, active road,” he said.
“Transport for NSW has recognised that, so in the coming weeks, the lights and signs will be installed here.”
Principal Dr Roland Von Marburg said the school is growing and the previous access via the narrow Hely Avenue was no longer sufficient.
“Our population is increasing significantly, and with that, there’s been very significant development of our playing field, areas and buildings, and this new entrance will make a tremendous difference to traffic flow in and out of a school,” he said.
“The only option we had previously was Hely Avenue, which was shared as a very narrow road with Henchke, and that became a real issue.”
The existing school zone at nearby Henschke Primary School will extend west from Hely Avenue towards the Glenfield Road intersection. Photo: Chris Roe.
Saint Mary MacKillop College has taken over part of the former CSU South Wagga Campus and Dr Von Marburg said that they have seen rapid expansion.
“Our school’s been here for 18 years now, but it’s really only in the last year or two that we’ve been able to look at acquiring some of this neighbouring land, which allows us to expand, and we’ve had a 50 per cent increase in enrolment,” he said.
“It’s the most significant development we’ve had here, but it’s indicative of the support we get from the local community.
“About 30 to 40 per cent of our students come from a background where English is not the first language in their home; many are recent migrants, sometimes refugees to this country, and despite that and the challenges that they face, we’ve had excellent NAPLAN scores now for a number of years, and we regularly score at the top 100 schools in the state on most levels.”
Principal Dr Roland Von Marburg said they would invite Dr Joe McGirr to open the new school gates on Fernleigh Road. Photo: Chris Roe.
The flashing lights and signs for the school zone extension will be installed on Wednesday, 28 August, between 7 am and 6 pm and are expected to take two days to complete, weather permitting.
Signage on the approaches to the school zone on Quail and Hunter streets will also be installed. As you would expect, the school zone will be operational from 8 am to 9.30 am and 2.30 pm to 4 pm on school days.
Outside of the school zone, the speed limit on Fernleigh Road will remain at 50 km/h.
Fines for speeding in a school zone start at $203 for drivers travelling 0 to 10 km over the limit, while a driver caught doing 60 km/h in a school zone will cop a $609 fine and four demerit points.
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