Sydney Road Street Festival

Last weekend High School for Coburg had a stall at the Sydney Rd Street Party. There was a huge amount of strong support and interest from people who sought us out. A number of themes emerged when we talked with  parents and concerned community members.

• Concern that being a safe Labor seat works against us with both ALP and Liberal governments.
• Serious anxiety and worry for families about the lack of a local high school. Families don't want to or can't afford to move away but have no option for secondary education.
• Frustration. The obvious need for a high school in Coburg and the obvious suitability of the Coburg Senior High site provision solution 
• Concern, suspicion and anger about the Coburg Senior High as it is and as it sits in this community - wasted public facility with empty space which could be utilised. Low enrolments mean huge amount of public money being poured into the school is not the best use of public money. There is a strong perception that the school is selective and there were negative personal stories from prospective parents who have done tours eg being told if they can't buy a lap top to forget it or if they didn't find out about the school via the website forget it because they are not right for the school. Anger about having a low enrolment, effectively selective school with empty buildings sitting in the middle of an area of such desperate need. Many parents said this story needs to be "put out there".
• Of significance was the strong support from the very large number of Brunswick community parents who approached us.They all said they support a high school for Coburg and do not see it as a threat to Brunswick High. Most were surprised to hear a possible Coburg High had been portrayed as a threat to Brunswick High.They are very aware of the numbers coming through Brunswick Primary schools and are worried about whether they will be able to access Brunswick High when the time comes.

Matt and Bethany's story

by Matt Thomas
With my youngest now entering the last term of grade 5, I feel I may have lost some of impetus and drive required to upset, derail the status quo at the northern region.  The CSHS is of course an elitist blight on the landscape as far as I'm personally concerned. It is by definition anti-community. If it were serious stand alone proposition, then it should not feel threatened by the possibility of an open-entry Y7-Y12 HSC.

The DEECD stats clearly show the need of a HSC. 5,000 kids of high school age living within 4km of Sydney and Bell streets bear this out. The fact that half of them attend private schools, demonstrates in my mind the lack of choice. Whilst Strathmore is generally seen as this regions panacea, it still grieves me to see 4 ex Newlands State Pimary School (NPS) kids take three forms of public transport to get there. Whilst it could be argued that kids of this age are generally pretty resilient, a minimum 1.5 hour (sometimes closer to 2.5hour) daily commute is bloody outrageous given the proximity to the GPO in a city of nearly 4 million people! Not too mention the carbon foot print. A walk or a bike ride for these kids is simply out of the question.

It is also grieves me to see, of an average of 20 kids graduating from Newlands Primary School, over the last 6 years, that there was an average of 7 destination high schools each year. I'm not a genius with stats, but that makes it highly improbable that you'd go to high school, from primary school, than with anymore than maybe one, a maximum of four people you have known for up to 7 years. Not only traumatic for the kids, but it splits parent relationships asunder - so much for community....   There are other avenues for community of course (planting natives down the creek, jambing spuds on politicians exhausts, etc). However primary school, and hopefully high school does necessarily bring parents together, sometimes just to 'shoot the breeze' and catch up with what's happening in the hood.

Carmen's story

by Carmen Lahiff-jenkins
I’ve been a Coburg resident for 12 years. The North Coburg area was home for 10 of those. We turned our front yard into a vegie garden and slowly the neighbors become involved in our labor of love, we trained them as chook wranglers and dog-catchers as our menagerie spilled over our fence; the children called the old man across the road Pa and we attended the funeral of his wife with heavy hearts. The local children would show up on our doorstep most evenings for bike advice and my partner was the coach at a local football club. Every Christmas Eve we organized a visit from Santa, meeting at the park on Claremont street, a few years in a row with Preston Fire-brigade on board, delivering Santa in style.

As our eldest son entered late primary it occurred to us; there was no high school in Coburg.

Investigating our options it became clear that on the North side of Bell Street we wouldn’t have access to a high school of choice and the options were distinctly disappointing. So we moved to the other side of Bell Street and left the relationship with our community behind. But it doesn’t end there. Now two years into our new address and Strathmore, Thornbury and Northcote are closing their doors, to boys especially. The options are still rather limited. Many of the Coburg kids who have schooled together cannot go to High school together, and my son makes lists trying to choose which friends he can let go and with which he want to stay. I have started training him for long travel alone as unless we move again he will have to travel across suburbs for schooling. This will incur extra expenses for our family as well as limiting his physical exercise, as he now travels by scooter or bike to school.

Earlier this year we did the high school open day circuit, and at each school they would ask ‘where do you live?’ and when we answered ‘Coburg’ they would look doubtful and say ‘well, try anyway’.

My children attend a primary school that are already predicting 80 preps in 2012, this year there were 90 preps; in only six short years 90 grade sixes will be looking for a high school in this area. Where are they going to go?

What is to be done?

Well, why not drop-in and have a look !

High School for Coburg invites YOU to the launch of the Draft Plans for the re-instatement of a Secondary School in Coburg developed by Architecture Graduate Emily Wallace.

This will take place at the Post Office Hotel - 231 Sydney Road, Coburg - at 1:30 PM on Sunday the 11^th of December 2011 and will include a short presentation by Emily Wallace, a scale model (one metre x one metre in size) display of the secondary school, various A3 size plans and photos and A4 booklets that HSC supporters are welcome to snaffle and digest over a cup of tea or a cold beer. Plus the Post Office Hotel will donate $3.00 from each Roast of the Day to HSC to assist the campaign … Yippee!!!       

In addition to the above, this will be a fantastic opportunity to kick-start the debate and discussion in relation to what a re-instated Year 7-12 Coburg High School might look like. Hope to See You There J J J  

And - in related news - High School for Coburg have finalised the six-page final report entitled More Primary School Children -Fewer Secondary School Options which looks at the rapidly increasing local Primary School enrolment figures and compares this against the consistently decreasing Secondary School options for primary school kids in Coburg and its surrounding suburbs. Those parents, especially those with Grade Six kids, who have been grappling with the question “Where will my child go to high school?” will find that this report particularly disturbing.            

That being the case check out both the More PrimarySchool Children - Fewer Secondary School Options final report and the Whatis to be Done ?? flyer and the latest updates on the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/highschoolforcoburg or through our website http://www.highschoolforcoburg.org/

High School for Coburg … a bunch of passionate and committed locals who seek the immediate re-instatement of an open entry Year 7-12 public secondary school in Coburg. 

Please help us and other families remain in our wonderful suburb!

Dear Minister Dixon

I am writing to express my concern at the lack of open age secondary school options available to my children in Coburg. I am a mother of two young children. My son, Lewis, will attend primary school in 2013, his sister Edith 2 years after that. Although a few years away, I am starting to consider the secondary school options available to us here in Coburg. I am worried that when the time comes there will be no local options available to my kids, they will have to travel long distances to access an open entry high-school, and that they will be split from their friend base as everyone scrambles to find high-school options far and wide.

After moving to Melbourne from interstate 7 years ago, we feel we have found our home here in Coburg. Our children were born here in Victoria and we plan to stay here in the community we are proud to be a part of. More and more families are calling Coburg home. Spend any day at one of the local parks or in the local Victoria mall and you will find a regenerating suburb that is full of life and vibrancy. New housing developments, such as the Old Kodak Site, are going to add to the numbers of children within the city of Moreland. Local high-schools are overwhelmed with the population boom within the Northern Suburbs and the options available to the children of Coburg are narrowing. High-schools in Northcote and Thornbury have started to add caps on numbers or are searching for ways to reduce the overwhelming numbers they turn away each year. The people of other suburbs, such as West Preston, will also be affected by these caps.

Unfortunately, my husband and I will have to consider leaving the suburb we love so much. The connection we feel with our community is strong. Being part of a community and involved in that community is core to our fundamental beliefs and values we feel as parents. We believe that being connected to those around you, and your impact and contribution to your community, creates a strong foundation for young people to learn about themselves and the world in a place of safety and self certainty.

There is currently a very under-utilised site at Coburg Senior High-School. The space is there, the numbers of children are definitely there. Please help us and other families remain in our wonderful suburb and send our children to a local High-School.
Sincerely, Leila

How to write to the Education Minister about the lack of a High School in Coburg

Have you been thinking about writing to Minister Dixon about the lack of an open entry high school in Coburg? But not sure how to go about it? Peter from HSC has drafted a handy guide. The important thing is to write and say how it affects your family.  

Name and Surname
Street Address
Suburb, Postcode

DATE HERE

Mr Martin Dixon
Minister for Education
2 Treasury Place,
Level 1, East Wing,
East Melbourne, VIC 3002

Dear Mr Dixon/Dear Minister Dixon (choose your own salutation)

1st Paragraph (no more than about 4 sentences)
Why are you writing to him? State this at the outset.
Put some short details of who you/your family are.
What matters to you about having a local high school option, how this affects your children.

2nd paragraph (again no more than a few sentences)
Some more arguments for a local high school option that make sense to you (perhaps taken from the HSC website, other parents views, your own thoughts etc.).

3rd paragraph (Sweet and short closing points)
Put your closing sentiments here, being polite and sincere, thanking the Minister for taking the time to read this letter and hoping that he will find favourably for a local high school option etc.

Yours sincerely/Yours faithfully (whatever you normally use)

Your name
Contact details by phone or email (optional)

Cc High School for Coburg PO Box 337 Coburg 3058
or send a copy to highschool4coburg@gmail.com and if you're OK with sharing, we'd love to add it to our growing collection of letters to the minister.