By Bonny Burrows
Pakenham parents are driving a campaign for a new government secondary school to be built adjacent to John Henry Primary.
Local resident Pamela Fairbank launched a change.org petition earlier this month calling for the school after plans were revealed for a new primary school in Pakenham’s north-east, however parents say they have been calling for another Pakenham public high school for some time.
They argue Pakenham’s sole public high school Pakenham Secondary is fast approaching capacity and is unable to keep up with the area’s booming population.
Already, the parents said local primary school numbers indicated a huge increase in high school enrolments in the coming years, with 570 Grade Six students currently attended the public primary schools in Pakenham, Beaconsfield, Officer and Cardinia.
Throw in private schools St Patrick’s and St Clare’s and that number rises to 671.
“Where are all these children going to go to high school? The mind boggles as to the thought process of the Authorities building yet another primary school with no thought to where these kids are going after Year 6,” the parents said.
“We only have an option of Officer Secondary College, which is now zoned, or Pakenham Secondary College.
“Pakenham Secondary College has 70 more Year 7 students this year than two years ago.
“They can’t take another 500 kids.”
The parents say the solution is simple – develop the land next door to John Henry Primary School which has already been allocated for a secondary school.
There was no use waiting until capacity was already met, they said, rather the government needed to start now as “by the time the school’s ready, we’ll need it”.
“The land is there on Henry Road, ready to go. What is everyone waiting for?” the parents said.
Education Minister James Merlino was contacted for comment and stopped short of committing to the high school’s construction.
“The community has been very clear to us about their concerns around future education needs and I have heard them loud and clear,” Mr Merlino said.
“We have already made significant investments with new schools in the area including Bridgewood Primary School and Pakenham North East Primary School.
“But we know there is much more to do and only Labor has a record of building new schools across the state.”
To find out more about the parent’s campaign search ‘build a high school in Pakenham now’ on Facebook or visit www.change.org/p/build-a-new-public-high-school-in-pakenham-asap.
