Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Adjournment

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (17:42): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:42): (71) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Education, and it concerns the dramatic decline in the number of students attending Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC). The action that I seek is for the minister to conduct a full audit of the reasons students have left the college, including tracking students who left the college prior to graduation, to ascertain why there has been such a dramatic decline in student enrolments at the school since it was formed in 2020 and where these students have gone, to ensure they have not just been lost to education and employment altogether.

Stage 1 of the Andrews Labor government’s Shepparton Education Plan saw the closure of four public secondary schools to create a single campus super-school that would immediately cater for up to 2700 students. In 2018 these four schools – Wanganui Park Secondary College, Mooroopna Secondary College, McGuire College and Shepparton High School – had a total student enrolment of 2645 students. The Shepparton Education Plan document clearly articulated that student enrolments at GSSC were predicted to grow year-on-year to reach 3117 by 2026. In fact the opposite has occurred, with the student enrolments at Greater Shepparton Secondary College steadily declining each year.

In an online article posted on 9 May 2021, Department of Education officials revealed the number of enrolments at the school was 2308, 337 less than the 2018 enrolments at the four former schools. I was reliably informed at the time that whilst the student number of 2308 was accurate in early 2021, a further 55 students had left the school by May 2021, leaving the official enrolment at 2253. Data in the department’s website reveals that the official enrolment numbers for 2022 were 2163, but those with access to the data have told me that the numbers had fallen to around 2100 by late in the year. Whilst we have not seen official data for 2023, I have been informed that the student enrolments have further declined. Apparently on 2 February the school expected 2120 students at the start of the school year, but again those with access to the data claimed that on 20 February there were only 2081 students and by 3 March the numbers had dropped even further to 2070. That is a drop of 11 students in just two weeks. There are now well over 600 students missing from the projected student numbers for the school. It is true that some will have gone to neighbouring towns or Catholic or independent schools, but the numbers for those schools do not account for over 600 students. An audit will identify where these students are.