This community needs a high school – tell us what sort you think is best

HSC is right now involved in a series of meetings with the Department of Education about what a state secondary school in Coburg could look like, where it could be located and how it would meet the needs of the community. We need your help to let them know what sort of school we need for this community. Please fill in our survey and help shape the future of secondary education for Coburg.

After the Department of Education report last year showed a shortfall in places for students in and around Coburg, HSC believes that there is an imperative to act before it is too late. The issue isn’t political anymore; just a simple matter of doing what is right for people who live here – like you. The Department has written to us outlining their plans for the next year and we need to make sure your voices continue to be heard in the ongoing consultative process and filling in the survey is one way you can do that. 

The survey is here – please lend us five minutes of your time to shape the way local children access local education.

The evidence is in - we need a high school in Coburg

Our community needs a local high school:

• The DEECD report shows a shortfall in secondary provision. Unfortunately this report is still not available electronically for us to link to, but our summary can be seen here.
• The  HSC response to the DEECD report can be read or downloaded here.
• Coburg Initiative Economic Development Strategy states that in 2010 "one state secondary school required as a priority ". 
• The Coburg Initiative Economic Development Strategy (p17) clearly states the importance of a school for the economic development of Coburg. 
• The need for a high school in Coburg was one of the core issues identified by Coburg Initiative community consultation. 

Our community supports a local high school:

• The 2010 Moreland Council Community Indicators survey shows extremely low levels of satisfaction with state secondary provision in Coburg and Coburg North.
• HSC have received 20 letters of support so far. Six are from school councils and one is from a child care centre. Others are from community groups and individuals. 
• The HSC Civic Fund was set up less than a month ago and so far has received pledges from business, community groups and individuals totalling $18,000. When the school goes ahead, we hope these pledges will be matched by Victorian Government funding under the new Business Working with Education Foundation which will allow, for the first time, tax free donations to government schools.  

So, where are we at now?

HSC made the following recommendations in response to the DEECD report:

HSC Recommendations:

1. That an implementation task force be set up in Feb 2011 to plan for the establishment of, at minimum a year 7 intake at CSHS in 2012. That the Minister for Education commences initial discussions and task force make up immediately after swearing in. 

2. That the Victorian Government and DEECD build on the really good work being done at the Coburg Senior High School (CSHS) by making financial provision for the establishment of, at minimum, a year 7 intake in 2012 at the CSHS with the aim of having full open access secondary provision in 2014, thereby creating more education opportunity for the greater Coburg community and thus enabling the Family-School-Community partnership. 

3. As well as opening the CSHS to junior year levels, the DEECD with co-operation from all levels of government plus families, Moreland Council and community, work on establishing the Coburg High School (CHS) as a Community Hub. By opening up the excellent facilities to the broader community, increasing the schools identity and involvement in the local community, especially in conjunction with the Coburg Initiative, CHS could take its place as a valuable and integral community asset. 

4. That the DEECD facilitate, with support of families and community, the establishment of a cluster of local primary schools which can work together sharing knowledge and facilities and can establish a relationship with, and pathway to, a Coburg High School thus further enabling the Blueprint mission - “a high quality and coherent birth-to-adulthood learning and development system.” 

On 28 October, 2010, Kelvin Thomson, MP for Wills  read out the first two HSC  recommendations in his parliamentary speech on the HSC issue.

So far it looks like we will see the first half of the first recommendation come to fruition. On 21 October 2010 at the HSC candidates conference, Christine Campbell, Member for Parliament for Pascoe Vale announced at a report into local secondary education needs had acknowledged there will be a shortfall of places for Years 7 to 9 over the coming years. She said “We are grateful for the work that the group and the Department of Education have done in putting together this report. Now that the evidence has been acknowledged, the next important step is to consider what is best for the students. To this end, tonight I can announce a taskforce will be established to investigate how to implement the best educational outcome for the children of Coburg and surrounding areas.”

*  *  *  *  *

HSC are still seeking a firm commitment from the government to the actual establishment of an open entry high school in Coburg during the next term of government.

HSC's big week

1. The DEECD report looking into secondary education provision in the Coburg area was released. Unfortunately there is no link to the report yet, but we'll let you know when there is. In spite of numbers being demonstrably too conservative, it still showed a huge shortfall in secondary education provision in our area. HSC had a crucial part to play in this report not being a white wash.

• Primary enrolment numbers up three years in a row( including projected 2011). 
• Shows no South -North travel to secondary school, so spaces in the north become irrelevant to HSC issue. 
• Capacity shortfall for years 7-9 in schools to south: 837 at 2016 and 1,027 at 2021. 
• Capacity surplus overall for years 7-12 but in schools to the south the shortfall is: 1,358 at 2016 (partially offset by space at Coburg Senior High School) and 1,689 at 2021. 
• The Coburg area will generate 2,443 at state secondary by 2021 The average forecast demand generated by the Coburg area is 1.8 to 10 times more than that of surrounding school catchments.
• Executive summary doesn't include the additional 229 kids in Coburg /Brunswick who will require state secondary - from the updated new dwelling numbers provided by Moreland Council. 

2. The Premier, John Brumby acknowledged the demand for state secondary in Coburg at the press conference for Brunswick High Regeneration.
3. Moreland Council hangs banner on council building "This community needs a high school".
4. The Age published this article on page 4 -"Northern Schools Full" and HSC spokeswoman Catherine Hall was interviewed on ABC radio.
5. We hosted the HSC Candidates Conference - a lively night attended by two primary principals, the Mayor and several councillors, the media and ofcourse the community and the candidates .Thanks to all who came.
6. Member for Pascoe Vale, Christine Campbell announced a task force will be set up to work with the community to determine best method of implementation for increased secondary education provision for Coburg.
7. HSC BBQ at DEECD/Moreland Council funded Kids Day Out next to Coburg Leisure centre -weather not great but still sold lots of snags, got lots of support and interest from the many families attending the fun day.

NEXT: 
1. HSC will seek and provide more clarity on some of the above over next few days.
2. HSC will provide brief response to final report to Bronwyn Pike's advisor - hopefully enabling her to make an announcement.
3. HSC will also seek strong commitment ( before the government goes in to caretaker mode) to provision IN Coburg during the next government term.

“It may be that in 10 or 15 years there will be need for a new school”

by Janet Grigg
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!

Darren Saffin, a member of  High School for Coburg wrote this letter to the The Age and I think it sums up our issues very neatly:

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.

So, actions to take:

• add your comment to the Moreland Leader online
• "like" our facebook page and encourage your friends to do the same
• write to politicians, newspapers etc

Let's make our voices heard. Loud and strong. Our community needs a high school!

Campaign Update - July 2010

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.

Task Force
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) have commissioned Spatial Vision to produce an independent “Review of Secondary School Provision for the Coburg Area".

HSC members are part of the Consultation Group, which has the role of raising issues and questions about the study and providing input into the study and its findings. We attended the first meeting on 15 June 2010 at Parliament House. This represents a new phase of "clear and transparent" communication with the DEECD and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike's office.

Our aims during the report process are to:

• Have as much of our data included as possible.
• Bring inter-connected factors such as community, environment and health to the table at every opportunity.
• Encourage a “triple bottom line” and “whole of government” approach to the solution.
• Continue to lobby, making the best use of every opportunity the process presents us with.

Thornbury High students filming an episode of Class TV for channel 31 which you can see here

Community Support
While we have the attention of the decision makers, it is vital that we show that HSC represents the broad community in calling for the reinstatement of a neighbourhood school for the benefit of the whole community.

To date we have received wonderful letters of support from school councils including Newlands, Preston West, Coburg and Pascoe Vale primary schools and from community groups including Moreland Energy Foundation Ltd (MEFL) and Parents Victoria. These letters are available to read here and will be sent to policy and decision makers at each level of government.

What you can do:

• Help add to our collection of letters of support via your connections with local primary schools, kindergartens, child care centres, community groups and businesses.
• Write to MPs, newspapers and the DEECD to explain your issues with state secondary education provision for this area.
• Write to us with your personal stories of secondary education in the Coburg area. We are interested in publishing such stories on our website to show how the lack of choice is affecting families in the Coburg area.
• Join us on Facebook. The number of our Facebook supporters will be noticed by politicians, policy and decision makers so it is an effective way to show that you support the HSC campaign. It is also easy to suggest High School for Coburg to your own Facebook friends in the area. You will also see any developments with the campaign on your Facebook newsfeed. And we love comments on Facebook!

HSC media wrap up

With the recent announcement of the long awaited taskforce to examine the education needs of Coburg and surrounding communities, our campaign for a high school in Coburg has been in the media quite a bit lately. Just in case you've missed it - here's a quick list of links.

12/04/2010 - Coburg high school D-Day, in the Moreland Leader

13/04/2010 - Coburg 'needs high school' in The Age.

13/04/2010 - Pike announces demographic review into Coburg. This article was in the online Government News,  an Australia independent bi-monthly magazine circulated to all levels of government.

16/04/2010 - What do we want? A high school of our own... The Age, headlining the education section.

There have also been letters to the editor published in both The Age and Moreland Leader. 

Taskforce announced

The Minister for Education Bronwyn Pike has announced the formation of a taskforce to examine the need for a high school for Coburg and the surrounding community. This is the taskforce first announced by Member for Pascoe Vale, Christine Campbell on 30/11/2009. That's four and a half months ago.

High School for Coburg thank Minister Pike for her commitment to look at this long standing issue and look forward to participating in a truly independent taskforce to examine the over whelming need for secondary education options for the community.

The taskforce needs to call for community submissions to reflect the needs and wants of the whole community. Minister Pike has said she is concerned a Coburg High would not be used.  HSC remind her that 96% of the respondents in the HSC parental attitudes and intentions survey have said they would send their children to a Coburg High. Her statistics are incomplete and misleading and her obvious bias makes it imperative that this task force has an independent chairperson and a mandate to be truly impartial. We are looking forward to getting stuck in and finishing the report as soon as possible so local parents can have plenty of time to read the report before the elections in November.

According to the Minister for Education's press release, the taskforce will consult with the local Coburg community – including Member for Pascoe Vale Christine Campbell, local school principals and school councils, the High School for Coburg group and Moreland City Council. It will also assess local demographic information from Moreland City Council, primary school enrolments, parents’ intention for the secondary education of their children, maternal and child health records and future housing capacity in Coburg. The review is expected to be completed by the middle of the year.

Education is a major issue in our local community and is set to become an even bigger issue in light of the $1 billion Coburg re-development and the Kodak and Pentridge redevelopments which have so far failed to take into account the growing social infrastructure needs of the area.