HSC Civic fund launch

HSC were excited to publicly launch the High School for Coburg Civic Fund at the Civic Reception.

The fund is based on the 1961 Coburg Civic Fund which gathered donations from individuals and businesses for the building of the Coburg Olympic Pool. It builds on Coburg's proud history of generosity but also a history of strong advocacy for local education.

HSC began this project in late 2010 gathering pledges which would be payable to the new school if/when we got one! We quickly reached a total near $20,000 -however $10,000 of that was from Equiset Grollo who are no longer partners in the Coburg Initiative. Since then our energy was diverted to other campaign tasks, however now that there is an actual school to donate to we decided to publicly launch the HSC Civic Fund.

Our plan is for  pledges to be converted to donations once the 7-12 school entity has a school council. The usual vehicle for such donations is called a library fund. Pledges of  $1,000 and over will earn the opportunity to use the Proud Supporter Seal in their promotion.

The High School for Coburg Civic Fund has several purposes:

• showing community support for the school 
• raising the sense of community ownership and therefore potential community partnerships with the school. 
• raising the profile/ marketing the 7-12 school to help grow the first intake in 2015 
• actual monetary benefit to the school.
• shows that HSC are committed to following through and helping build the school.

We have $8,300 in pledges so far from businesses, organisations and individuals ranging from $100 from John Macneil who attended Coburg High from 1939 -1943 (and who has promised to give more once the new school entity has a school council) to $2,500 from John Parisi the partner in My Chemist/ Chemist Warehouse Coburg and Brunswick.

Pledges over $1,000 earn the opportunity to use a Civic Fund "proud supporter" seal in their advertising.

If you would like to make a pledge please contact us by email highschool4coburg@gmail.com, facebook message or post (contact details and link to facebook on the website)and we will record your name on the list!

PROUD SUPPORTERS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL CIVIC FUND (so far)

• John Parisi, Partner, My Chemist / Chemist Warehouse Coburg and
•  Brunswick:$2,500
• Ahmed Haouchar, Owner, Al Alamy International Coffee and Nuts: $2.000
• Barry Plant, Coburg: $2.000
• High School for Coburg working group, $1,000
• Arabic Social Services: $200
• Axilleon Caffe Cake Shop: $100
• Sarah Sanders and family, West Coburg Primary: $100
• Little Dear Tracks Cafe: $100
• Elli's Deli: $100
• John Macneil, Attended Coburg High 1939-1943: $100
• Haas and Gray Indigenous Horticulture,  $100

 Total $8,300

HSC Civic Reception

A very big thank you to the Mayor, Cr John Kavanagh and Moreland City Council for hosting the High School for Coburg Civic Reception on the 29th of August. The evening was a wonderful and positive affirmation of the work done by so many towards achieving such a great outcome!

An early highlight  of the Civic Reception was the performance by Sue Johnson's twenty strong community choir, The Trolls. As the story goes their name came about when the choir were practising one evening under the Merri Creek bluestone bridge at Murray Rd - for the excellent acoustics. A cyclist passed by and called out "You should call yourselves the Trolls!".  Most of the members of the choir are local parents of potential Coburg High children and HSC thank them all for volunteering their time and harmonious vocal chords to make the night special.

 The large gathering (reported in the Moreland Leader as 80)  was a broadly  representative mix of our community's rich past, present and future.

Attendees included (in no particular order):

Education:

• The Vice Chancellor of La Trobe University, John Dewar.
• Many local school principals including from Catholic schools.
• School council presidents and representatives.
• High School for Coburg working group and families including parents of the first identified Year 7 student for 2015!

Elected representatives and Council:

• Our local Federal and State elected representatives - Kelvin Thomson and Christine Campbell.
• Moreland Mayor Cr John Kavanagh and many other councillors
• Darebin Councillor Cr Vince Fontana
• Moreland Council CEO Peter Brown, Director Social Development Andrew Day, Manager Early Years and Social Policy Barry Hahn and several others.

Our history represented:

• Coburg High Historical Group  member Tom Anderson who told us recently that the centenary of the old Coburg High will be 2016 - that is one year after the new school opens! Such a proud history associated  with this school - we hope the new school is called Coburg High! 
• Coburg Historical Society  Secretary Cheryl Griffiths who is also an ex-Newlands High student and education historian who has written a piece on the history of Coburg High Schools and has donated school paraphernalia to HSC.
• Coburg North Secondary College - Parents and Friends member Paula Hyndes who was involved in producing a study on what happened to the children once that school was closed and they relocated to farther away schools.  

 Our future:

• Local children!

We were looking forward to thanking government and Education Department representatives in person for all the work done and the fantastic decision but unfortunately none attended. This could possibly be explained by the fact that it was State Parliament sitting week and the extensive restructure the DEECD is undergoing.

The mood was very positive and reflected the general community's high level of interest and desire to be part of building the Family-School-Community Partnership with the 7-12 local high school! We are proud and happy to be part of such a community!