Starting the high school shuffle
Thursday, August 5, 2010

Oh no, they won’t take him. We don’t live in the zone.
Parents in the city of Melbourne, Australia campaigning for a local high school in melbourne

Have you seen last weeks Moreland Leader? I was outraged when I read the interview with Wayne Craig Northern Metropolitan Region Director of the DEECD and he said “It may be that in 10 or 15 years there will be need for a new school.” Were you outraged too? Well, there have been 35 online responses to that interview so far. Not all of them favourable, but I suspect that means we are starting to be heard. Would you like to add your voice to the chorus? If you think it probably wouldn't make a difference, go read this. In an election year, everything we read, every comment we make, every facebook page we "like" is monitored by those who seek our vote. Let's show them how much we care about education in Coburg!Window dressing
It is all very well for the government to set up a ministerial taskforce to look at the need for a new secondary school for Coburg and surrounding suburbs, but it is clear from the Department of Education's northern metropolitan region director, Wayne Craig, that the study is really just pre-election window dressing.
Our suburb desperately needs a new high school: there are now 22 primary schools but no open-entry state high school.
Mr Craig recently told our local newspaper that the suburb might need a new school in ''10 or 15 years''. I believe that Mr Craig is just saying what Education Minister Bronwyn Pike and the department won't.
While the City of Moreland annual community indicators survey of residents shows that satisfaction with secondary schools in the area keeps falling and is at an all-time low, the department is playing games in the lead-up to the state election.
It's time for the department to start treating this community with respect and to deliver realistic secondary education options for the local community.
by Cate Hall
Media Coverage
In the last few months High School for Coburg (HSC) have achieved generous print, TV and radio coverage, particularly during education week. We've been featured in the Moreland Leader, The Age, The Sunday Herald Sun, on ABC Stateline , Channel 7! and Class TV on Channel 31.
Victorian Budget Submission
We lodged a Victorian Budget Submission on behalf of HSC. Since then, more data has emerged, further strengthening the HSC case. For example, of the inner city municipalities, Moreland has the greatest expected increase of primary school aged children, followed by Darebin. In both areas this demographic trend looks set to continue, with an increase in the number of babies being born, including to first time mothers. Moreland community indicators show that satisfaction with secondary education provision in the Coburg area continues to plummet.
We will provide a more detailed analysis of this data soon.




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