PREMIER Steve Bracks went back to school yesterday to officially open the new $1.5 million Napoleons Primary School.
The Victorian Government contributed $970,000 to the $1.5 million relocation project. The school raised $87,000 and the Commonwealth Government provided $450,000.
Napoleons Primary School opened in 1870 and in 2000 the community began planning for the school's relocation to a nearby site. More than 80 pupils moved to the new site in April.
Mr Bracks said he had fond memories of the community's sporting facilities as a young tennis player for Mt Clear.
"I did actually play some tennis out here and looking around the room, some of you may have played some tennis as well, but I'm sure I won," he said.
"Driving out here today, I was stunned to see the amount of growth and the number of new houses and I congratulate the shire for providing these new facilities.
"It will be a focal point for educational and cultural activity in the future and I'm pleased the State Government is part of that."
Mr Bracks was joined by grade two pupil Jessica Porter, whose great-great-grandfather Thomas McManus was the first of five generations to attend the school in 1870, and Ashlea Bylsma, the youngest first generation prep pupil, to unveil a plaque at the new school site.