Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Euroa electorate schools

Ms RYAN (Euroa) (12:59): Speaker, may I congratulate you on your elevation to the Speaker’s role. I rise today after what has been a very distressing and an incredibly difficult few weeks for students, staff and families of Colmont School in Kilmore after its recent closure. The school had a very strong reputation as an academic institution and drew students from far and wide. Today I am seeking a guarantee from the government that it will not strip the school of its registration until every avenue to save it has been explored. The school has appointed a new administrator who is currently analysing the books, but there is a great deal of concern from locals that the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority plans to cancel the school’s registration.

There is also another concern here. In the days following the sudden closure, the Minister for Education, appreciating that she is new in her role, said:

Certainly we do have capacity at schools in the region to pick up anyone that needs a class, for both primary and secondary schools

That unfortunately is simply not true. Broadford Secondary College has already had to turn away more than 30 prospective students for next year, and the school’s capacity of 825 students is under pressure. The catchment through that region is growing rapidly, and Broadford desperately needs investment in order to deal with that growth. This is an issue that can no longer be ignored by the Andrews government. We do not have a public secondary school in Kilmore, and I would urge the government to invest in Broadford to ensure that it can deal with that growth.