My family live in the “Secondary School Black Hole” of Coburg North

On 29/07/2011, a concerned parent wrote the following email to the Regional Director of the Northern Region of the DEECD.

Subject: No Open level Secondary School in Coburg
To the Regional Director,
I am writing to formally complain about the lack of school facilities in the Coburg area. There is no Open level High school in Coburg or surrounding suburbs which is accessible to all within our community.
My family live in the “Secondary High School Black Hole” of Coburg North and my children need a secondary school to commence year 7 in 2015. Currently there is little option for my children. We don’t believe we should need to move to the next suburb so we can access a decent secondary school as residents there are able to do.
I am aware of the outstanding work being undertaken by The High School for Coburg Group and commend them for their efforts. I am hoping that your Department can make a commitment as soon as possible towards a resolution to this grossly inequitable situation.
Wendy Dun

This was his response:
Deptartment of Education Northern Region Director Wayne Craig Letter to Wendy Dun 26 Augst 2011

Wendy wrote another letter, this time to the State Education Minister on 08/09/2011.

Dear Mr. Dixon,
I am writing about the lack of secondary school facilities in the Coburg area. As you are aware, there is no Open level High School in Coburg or surrounding suburbs which is accessible to all within our community.
My family live in the “Secondary School Black Hole” of Coburg North and my children need a secondary school to commence year 7 in 2015. Currently there is little option for my children. Many of the surrounding schools once available are now imposing strict enrolment limitations as they are and will continue to experience increasing demand.
Utilising existing facilities and resources such as the ex-Moreland College site off Bell Street appears to be the most obvious and cost effective option which should be considered by your Departments. A Secondary School open to Year 7 -12 built on that site would form a vital and essential part of the local community.
A quality Public Secondary School accessible to all should be viewed as an entitlement and not a privilege available to selected suburbs. We don’t believe we should need to move to the next suburb so we can access a quality secondary school as residents there are able to do.
I am aware of the outstanding work being undertaken by The High School for Coburg Group and commend them for their efforts. I am hoping that your Department can make a commitment as soon as possible towards a resolution to this grossly inequitable situation.
Wendy Dun

If you would like to tell Minister Dixon what you think about secondary education in Coburg, write to him at Minister for Education, Martin Dixon, PO Box 4367 Melbourne 3001 or email him martin.dixon@parliament.vic.gov.au or Martin.Dixon@minstaff.vic.gov.au

Mummy, why don't you just yell at them?

by Cate Hall
Here is a quote from my six year old this morning about the need for a high school for Coburg - "Why don't you just yell at them?" This follows a picture she did a year ago of Mummy and "The Man" squared up against each other wearing boxing gloves with him saying "No" and Mummy saying "Yes!"

In contrast to my daughter's take on the campaign - HSC are still optimistic it is not, and should not be, a fight but a collaboration between community and government for the good of the whole community.

HSC community meeting

The Community Meeting last Monday night (05/09/11) was wonderful! Thank you to all the passionate and engaged parents from at least seven primary school communities who attended. We had parents with children at schools in areas ranging from Moonee Ponds Central up to Pascoe Vale North and over to Brunswick East! It was great to meet you all and we discussed where the campaign is at the moment and strategies for the near future.

The High School for Coburg working group are thrilled that so many of you want to be involved, come to future meetings and pass on information to your school communities. On Wednesday 14/09/2011 HSC will be meeting with the Partnerships Division of the Office for Government School Education, DEECD. The purpose of the meeting is to clarify where we are with secondary school provision in Coburg and what the next steps are.  HSC is planning another community meeting to share what we learn at that meeting. We'll let you know where and when!

Minister Dixon acknowledges the need

HSC commend Martin Dixon for acknowledging the need for secondary education provision in Melbourne's inner suburbs, including Coburg when he spoke on the subject in Parliament on 30/08/2011.

You can read the full Hansard here, what follows is an excerpt very relevant to Coburg

The member for Prahran has requested that I come to his electorate to talk to members of his community and look at some sites.

An issue he raised with me before he was elected and one that has been well and truly in the news is the need for the further provision of government secondary college education, and Prahran is one area where there is that need. There is also a need in areas of the inner suburbs of Richmond, Coburg and Yarraville, and there is a need for primary school education in the area between North Melbourne and
Page 2885South Melbourne. We are working on a number of fronts with some community groups.

Our department is looking at the whole issue. It is no good just looking at needs in isolation; we are looking at the overall provision in the inner suburbs. There have been great population changes in a lot of the inner suburbs, and we are committed to giving parents a choice of education by offering them diversity. That choice is not between government and non-government schools; that choice is about a range of schools that can fulfil the needs of students and parents. School values, the curriculum, the size of the school and where the school is located are all important considerations that parents take into account.

We firmly believe in the need for diversity, and that is why we want to build up our government school system -- so that there are choice and diversity in the system. We are looking at a range of needs for government school education, especially in inner suburban areas. We will be making a number of announcements as we complete the various studies that we have undertaken. We are certainly listening to the member for Prahran and have allocated money for a study in his area. I look forward to being on the ground with him to look at sites and to talk to community groups about their need for government secondary education.

HSC community meeting

Come and join us next Monday night. We can fill you in on the work we have been doing and the disheartening buck-passing we are currently witnessing. We'd like to hear your concerns and ideas. Have year 7 placements gone well? Where to next for HSC?

When?

05 September · 19:30 - 22:00

Where?

Coburg Library Meeting Room

Corner Victoria and Louisa Streets Coburg

HSC have written a letter to Minister Dixon and whatever the content of the letter of response coming from Minister Dixon,it's high time that High School for Coburg met some more of our large support base. Come and join us for an informal meeting to share your ideas and concerns, to discuss the letter and what's next for HSC.

High School for Coburg update - August 2011

HSC wrote to Minister Dixon in July 2011 stating the depth of community support for a general entry High School in Coburg. HSC recently wrote to Minister Dixon again outlining once again the need for a general entry High Scool in Coburg. You can read the full text of the letter here. Below are the key points.

Minister Dixon visits Coburg Senoir High on 02/08/11 see here for more images

REBORN SCHOOLS
On 15 August 2011 the Age published an article on reborn schools. This article highlights some key aspects of the HSC case:

• Schools running well below their capacity are expensive to operate. 

“We’ve got a lot of buildings that we’re paying to maintain –it’s a massive investment for buildings that sit there idle for a large part of the time.”  Wayne Craig, Northern Region.

• Exactly! This is why the ex-Moreland College site must be fully utilized – it is high time!
• We note that in the article the Coburg Senior High School was omitted from the education department’s list of inner Northern Region Schools with enrolments under 500. The CSHS has an enrolment of 218 and according to the Spatial Vision report will track at about that level through to 2021.
• Albert Park’s enrolment figures show there is plenty of pent up demand for quality state secondary schools in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. These figures call into question the current DEECD enrolment projection methodology which is based on assumptions of very low proportions choosing state schools and also the averaging of LTE’s back to 2006 even where there is consistently increasing numbers since then.
• The Albert Park story also highlights the inequity of the Coburg scenario:
• In 2006 Albert Park–Middle Park had only 418 persons aged 12-17, meanwhile Coburg had 1,503 (plus a further 349 in Coburg North) with about 10 times more expected growth in numbers than Albert Park-Middle Park. (id.forecast) Albert Park College closed in 2006 and re-opened this year in first class facilities. In Coburg where the numbers are, the high school closed back in 2004 and we still have no open state provision for children leaving the 22 primary schools in our area.

SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY

• Thornbury High School Council has written a letter of support which we will share once received. This makes a total of nine school councils that have either written in support of HSC or have written directly to you on this matter.
• Northcote High School – Acting Principal’s Report on challenges in managing the demands of high enrolments, latest school newsletter, page two.

“Last month Northcote HS received about 400 applicants for places in Year 7, well beyond our capacity to accept which is about 250”

• This is on the ground evidence that the need for an open entry High School in Coburg is there now – well before 2016.
• HSC facebook: 469 likers and 11,200 post views in one week, last week. We continue to show growing and engaged community support.

SPATIAL VISION REPORT
HSC appreciate that few would have had the time to read the very large Spatial Vision Report in detail so please find attached what we consider to be the three crucial sections:

1.  Key Growth areas map showing increase in secondary school aged persons 2006-2021. The greatest growth by far is of course in Coburg which has no school, followed by other areas which have full schools. The Minister for Planning was particularly struck by the starkness of this visual representation when HSC met with him last month.
2. Network Capacity Analysis – showing the projected shortfalls at schools in the Spatial Vision study area. Please note – if it is accepted that students do not and will not be travelling over an hour to attend schools to the north of the Coburg area – the overall shortfall becomes MUCH greater as it is concentrated in the southern schools.
3. Coburg Core Area – Spatial Vision did a study-within-the-study on the proposed Coburg High catchment (Coburg SLA plus West Preston) and it is clear that the area accounts for up to ten times the number of secondary aged persons as the surrounding catchments