A NEW workshop was opened at Orrvale Primary School last week, which will expand the school’s woodworking program and provide more children the opportunity to work with their hands.
Both the program and the new workshop have been made possible through the generous contributions of two grandfathers.
Greg McCoy, or Poppy Greg as he is affectionately known, put on woodworking sessions in the courtyard with small groups of students from his granddaughter’s class from 2015.
“In 2020, former student and current grandfather at the school, Peter Copulos, saw the work we were doing and was very keen to support us,” said principal, Andrew Brennan.
Peter Copulos, who attended school at Orrvale between 1948 and 1951 and has had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren attend the school, provided $50,000 for the construction.
“Peter’s extremely generous donation to the school has enabled us to construct a purpose-built facility, ‘The Peter Copulos Workshop’, that can now cater for large groups of students and expand our program beyond woodworking.”
The facility was opened by John Evans on behalf of the Copulos family, who could not attend due to an illness. Mr Evans said Peter was eager to contribute to the project because the woodworking facilities provide “a real point of difference to the school.”
“There probably is not any other primary school in this region that would have a facility like this, and that was a really significant reason for getting involved,” he said.
“Peter and Maria have obviously been able to build a successful business in the region and they love the opportunity to give back through projects like this.
“It’s something that they can give back to the community that has been so good to them.”
While beginning as a voluntary program for a few students once a week, now woodworking can cater for large groups of students most days of the week, with staff like Poppy Greg now employed to deliver the program.
“The children only get a taste of woodwork skills while at Orrvale, but our hope is that many children will finish primary school knowing if this is an interest they want to pursue in secondary school and beyond,” said principal Brennan.
