 |
| The red dots are established schools with entry caps on them and the black dots are special entry schools. |
Where we live, in the suburbs of Northern Melbourne there is " a black hole" of secondary schools. That is, there are about 3 high schools supporting a broad area of the northern suburbs, and this year yet another high school has been closed down.
• There is not one open-entry Secondary School in the area
• There are 22 primary schools in the area
• Families are are moving away from Coburg to get access to a secondary school for their children
• Children graduating from primary schools are being split up into many different secondary schools
• The Moreland Community Survey showed “lack of schools" was number 5 of the top 10 issues.
• Under the “Coburg 20/20” plan, there will be 5000 new homes in the area (not the including Kodak and Pentridge developements)
• Coburg and Pentridge developments are bringing many new families into the area
• There has been a 20% increase in birthrate across the city of Moreland placing future pressure on schools
As you will see this is no small problem, but one which needs to be addressed soon.
My own son attends a school which is some 5 kms, or 2 bus rides away. He travels on 2 buses for about an hour every morning and afternoon, to get to and from school.
Where he went to school in Coburg, there was originally a High school across the road from his primary school but that has long since been closed down and pulled down. There is a school in the next suburb to ours but it is capped and we live outside the region they will accept students from.
Not far from us their is a large area which will soon be subdivided and new estates and new families will start to move in. They will have problems educating their children though because there are no high schools.
We will soon face an election and I have yet to see any of the political parties stand up and take notice of this growing problem. Recently I have been introduced to a group known as
who are a group of local parents in the same situation.
http://www.highschoolforcoburg.org/p/about-hsc.html
If this is of interest to you also, perhaps you are a teacher or a parent or you know someone who lives in the area or perhaps you just feel strongly about the importance of educating our kids have a look at the link above and sign their petition. Or just have a read.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/highschoolforcoburg/
