Save Tharwa School

As a final point of order in the minutes of the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly for 12th December, the day before the announcement on school closures was made, amendments were made to the Education Act with respect to campus of non-government school. New sections 88A and 88B have many new provisions, including a new requirement to provide 60 days notice to establish a new campus of an existing non-government school. Prior to the 12th December 2006 when these amendments were passed there were no provisions in the Education Act for the establishment of new campuses of existing, operational non-government schools.

The new amendments appear to be directed specifically at members of the Tharwa community’s proposal that was raised with the Education Department during the consultation period and given ‘in principle support’. As part of the consultation on strategies to keep schooling in Tharwa, along with many viable suggestions for maintaining the school under the public education system, we investigated and transparently discussed with the ACT DET establishing and developing a south Canberra campus of Blue Gum independent school. Blue Gum independent school see the long term attractiveness and viability of the historic Tharwa school site and are prepared to work with the Tharwa community to maintain the educational site in Tharwa and provide an alternative to government education in south Canberra.

It seems the consultation process for the government has concluded with introduction of legislation to throw as many hurdles as possible in front of anyone who won’t submit and send their child to a large, concrete, suburban government school.

Some extracts from the new amendments:

(1A) In deciding whether to give in-principle approval for the
registration of a school at an additional campus, the Minister
must have regard to—
(a) whether the provision of the additional campus by the
school would undermine the viability of other existing
schools; and
(b) the demand for the additional campus, including the level
of registration of interest shown by the community for the
proposed provision of the additional campus by the school.
…
Application for registration at additional campus
(1) This section applies if—
(a) a proprietor of a registered non-government school has
in-principle approval under section 84 (Deciding
in-principle applications) to apply for registration of the
school at a stated additional campus; and
(b) the proprietor has given the registrar written notice of the
proprietor’s intention to apply at least the prescribed period
before the first day of the school year or term when it is
proposed to begin operating the school at the additional
campus; and
(c) the in-principle approval has not lapsed.
(2) The proprietor of the school may apply in writing to the
Minister for registration of the school at the additional campus.
(3) The chief executive must publish notice of the making of the
application in a daily newspaper printed and published in the
ACT.
(4) The notice must state that written comments on the proposed
registration may be made to the Minister within a stated period
of at least 60 days after the day the notice is published.
(5) The chief executive must make a copy of the application
available for inspection by members of the public at the chief
executive’s office during ordinary business hours.
…
7) The criteria for registration of a school at an additional campus
are that—
(a) the school will have appropriate policies, facilities and
equipment for—
(i) the curriculum to be offered by the school at the
additional campus; and
(ii) the safety and welfare of its students at the additional
campus; and
(b) the curriculum (including the framework of the curriculum
and the principles on which the curriculum is based) meets
the curriculum requirements for students attending
government schools; and
(c) the nature and content of the education to be offered at the
school will be appropriate for the additional campus; and
(d) the teaching staff will be qualified to teach at the additional
campus; and
(e) the school will have satisfactory processes to monitor
quality educational outcomes at the additional campus; and
(f) the school will be financially viable.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 8:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.