John Burt
JOHN Burt’s dedication to the Ballarat Specialist School has been rewarded with the renewal of his contract as principal for another five years.
Mr Burt, who has been at the helm of the school for the past 19 years, said this was an opportunity to continue with his work.
“I am very pleased. It allows me to continue to build the school and help the students achieve their full potential,” Mr Burt said.
The school provides educational programs for students between the ages of five and 18 with mild, moderate and profound intellectual disabilities associated with physical, social, emotional behavioural, sensory and multiple impairments.
Plans in the pipeline include building an early learning centre next year, as well as redeveloping the school’s farm campus.
“We are also looking at the possibility of creating a bakery at the farm site and developing the farm campus to reach its potential,” Mr Burt said.
Mr Burt said the school had come a long way since it started in 1997.
“The whole concept of the school has been from a dream to reality,” he said. “We started with 59 students and have just on 400 now.
“This project will never be finished. We need to keep on developing and implementing the program to meet the individual needs of our students.”