Steps towards a Coburg Year 7 in 2015

This year, on the first day of second term, Year 6/7 Transition forms went out to families with a Coburg option for the first time since Moreland City College closed.  Coburg gets its own nearest school secondary school boundary which certainly looks like it should always have been there. You can view the map at this link but if you want to see the finer detail, you'll need to download it. Surrounding school boundaries have also been redrawn.
image by BAADE HARBOUR AUSTRALIA ARCHITECTS
Our community has embraced the Coburg Junior option, turning up in massive numbers to school tours and responding with enthusiasm and excitement.
  • At the end of last year, the December 10 evening tour and BBQ was attended by over 260 parents and students. 
  • On March 27 over 430 families attended two school tours
  • In April and May eight group tours over three days were nearly booked out. More tours were added for 5 and 9 May 
You can register for future tours of Coburg Junior High here.

image by BAADE HARBOUR AUSTRALIA ARCHITECTS
Even before the funding had been confirmed, over 90 students had already filled in the early enrolment form. When the funding for the Coburg Junior High building works was announced on Facebook, there was a huge response from the community: 95 likes on that post in one evening and many comments expressing excitement and relief! The Coburg Senior High principal, Don Collins, and staff continue to formulate the Coburg Junior offering and the community likes what they learn about it! The Coburg Junior will have some uniform items and according to Don many of the seniors also want to get the jacket!

Work on the building design is well under way and there is quite a lot of information on Coburg Junior website.  Other useful parts of the Coburg Junior website include:
  • FAQ - lots of general information
  • Curriculum - information about subjects taught and educational philosophy
  • Information - an overview of what Coburg Junior High will be offering
There is also a Coburg Junior High Facebook page.

Reports coming in from local parents indicate there have been many transition forms handed in with Coburg Junior as first choice! Congratulations and thank you to the principal and staff of Coburg Senior High for the work in planning Coburg Junior. We are excited about promoting and continuing to help build community around our great local high school!

$3.5 MILLION IN FUNDING CONFIRMED!!!

Minister for Education Martin Dixon  announced today, Monday 5 May 2014, $3.5 million in capital funding to expand Coburg Senior High School into a full 7-12 secondary school. Here is the Premier's press release with all the details.

"This is a welcome announcement for the community, that will provide high quality facilities to current and future students and the Coburg community," Mr Dixon said. Craig Ondarchie MLC also welcomed the announcement, and thanked the community for their commitment to local education.

Six years after beginning to push for this, and following on from Minister Dixon's 2012 decision, we now know it is really happening!

High School for Coburg would like to thank Minister Dixon for listening to our community and recognising the case for a school. We thank him for taking politics out of the equation, and for making the right decision and following through on it. Minister Dixon also did the right thing in listening to us when we explained why our families really needed to know before budget day whether the funding was secure.

The funding announcement has been covered in the following media:
And when the funding was announced, the most common response from parents was - phew!!!


Parents and students can now tour the school and place it as number one on the transition form safe in the knowledge that Coburg Junior High is a fully funded option for 2015.

HSC would also like to give a heartfelt thanks to our community including: working group members, champions at individual primary schools, principals and school councils who wrote letters of support, families who showed their support in many different ways, Moreland City Council who were represented at most of our important meetings over the years, and businesses that wrote in support and/or pledged to our HSC Civic Fund. This result would not have happened if you hadn't been there to help us show the need and support for a 7-12 school in Coburg!

Along with the huge numbers of other families that have visited the school, and the 90 students who had already pre-enrolled before the funding announcement, we are excited about what will be on offer at Coburg Junior High and look forward to seeing the extended and refurbished buildings in 2015.