Penola Primary School has been selected to receive funding through Credit Union SA’s brand-new School Impact Program this year.


The program offers SA schools the opportunity to access funding for projects between $2000 and $20,000 to help students and staff thrive and relieve some fundraising pressure that would usually fall on staff and families at these schools.


The School Impact Program has provided much needed support to schools across South Australia with over 500 students and their families now benefiting at the 15 schools who have already received funding in May and June this year.


When the first round of funding opened in February 2024, Credit Union SA received applications from hundreds of schools from across South Australia detailing how they would use the money to further enhance the teaching and learning experience for their students and staff.


Schools also indicated that often there was a shortfall with fundraising efforts, as parents of their school students were struggling with their own cost of living pressures, so donating money to school activities was becoming increasingly difficult.


Credit Union SA chief member experience officer Karen Beard said she was excited to share feedback from some of the 15 schools who have received funding for student experiences and projects from the program in round one.


She understands the positive impact these will have on their school’s community.


“We have been supporting education and teachers in South Australia for over 65 years, so our School Impact Program further demonstrates this,” she said.


“We are genuinely pleased to provide funding for these vital projects within South Australian schools, which will have a lasting impact on staff, students, and their local school community right now and for future generations of students at these schools.”


Penola Primary School will use their received grant towards an arts excursion to Mount Gambier.


The school often needs to travel by bus to participate in cultural experiences.


The cost for travel, often exceeds the cost of a ticket to these cultural activities, which has become both a burden and expense to much of the Penola Primary School community.


Penola Primary School is heavily invested in the wellbeing space through initiatives such as Resilience Project and Berry St Education Model.


Over the past three years the school has trained every educator in these programs in order to foster a positive sense of identity and community for their students.


They see the arts as another important avenue through which young people can come together and gain a sense of who they are and how they belong.


Credit Union SA has opened applications for another round of funding from Monday with funding paid to those successful schools in October 2024.


They are committing to provide over $1m in funding to local South Australian schools across the next 10 years through the School Impact Program.