School redevelopment community consultation

They started it way back in around 2000 with their changes to land zoning.

I remember then Simon Corbell held a meeting with Downer residents who were angry that 80% of the suburb had been zoned for development.

He called the meeting at short notice on grand final day. Interesting timing…. but he lost out – the meeting was packed anyway.

So did any bother going to thiese school meetings?

It’s all about the ‘DAD’ (faux consultation) method – Decide, Announce, Defend. This is not genuine consultation. They’ve done this non-consultation with schools, water recycling, public housing changes, and now this. AND it pisses me off that the forum times are impossible to attend if you have young children! Surely these parents are the major stakeholders in this issue?

WAtson High is no longer a TAFE but it is packed to the gills with community groups – a learner driver centre, an it business, a print gallery and workshop, an orchestra etc.

And the capacity remains to reopen it as a school if required in 10-20 years.

There is a massive baby boom in the last couple of years in Canberra, and these kids will all have ot go to school somewhere.

Glimmertwins, a decline in schoolage kids mean a suburb is filled with pernsioners. They then move on, and first homebuyers move in. They then have kids. Population is known to be cyclical.

An existing primary school (bonython) was designed as a ‘temporary’ school, with capacity to be turned into an aged care facility after a few decades. This is the type of forward planning that we need. Unfortunately it was ignored by this govt, who closed a neighbouring schoool, and kept that one open.

I’m all for superschools. I’m going to be proactive and raise mini-Maelinar to be a bully. That way, she will be used to lording it over a larger flock of people at an earlier age.

they’ve already started work on what was GDHS… lots of fences up, big piles of dirt being pushed around ? (hmmm…. is there some kind of metaphor in there…)

Look what happened when they ‘closed’ Watson High – it was a huge impact on the community at the time and is now a TAFE campus.

Only problem is that Lyneham is bursting at the seams, with Campbell high in numbers too, and no way to relieve the pressure because the school is now a TAFE.

The same could be said for other schools which have closed i.e. Red Hill taking up Narrabundah students. The failure to address the cultural and economical differences have led to truancy and other problems.

Glimmertwins – back at ya.

From ABS

Births in the ACT were on the rise again in 2002, with a 9% increase or 4145 births registered to mothers usually resident in the ACT

The total fertility rate (TFR) in the ACT in 2005 was the highest it has been since 1995, at 1.65 births per woman

So these children are about to hit primary school. There has been a reported rise in births across the board as a mini boom as the children of baby boomers start having their rug rats.

So the gubmint sells off all the land where schools are currently and fills adjacent schools to capacity. Then there is an increase in school age children in the next 5 years and suddenly all your kids are being taught in demountables. nice….

It also goes to show stats can be used to justify any arguement.

School age populations go down AND up Glimmertwins. However, once the land is sold off and gone it is gone for good. You can’t rebuild a school in an already overdeveloped suburb. By all means utilise the buildings for other purposes. (TAFE campuses and mature age learning centres are but two that spring to mind), but keep the land and buildings for future needs. Mind you, there is a bloody good social case for smaller schools. The money saved today will be spent on prisons tomorrow when kids who don’t quite fit start falling through the cracks.

Anyway, this debate isn’t about schools, kids or even process. It’s about the current government building up an election year war-chest with the proceeds of land sales in one hand, and the grateful political donations to the party by developers in the other.

The Demographic trends continue to show a DECLINE in school aged population in Canberra – despite the fact that the overall city population is growing.

The ABS data on SCHOOL AGE POPULATION IN THE ACT shows that there has been a decline in recent years.

The proportion ACT of the population who were of primary school age decreased from 10% (31,800 persons) in June 1996 to 9% (29,200 persons) in June 2005.

The proportion of the ACT population who were of high school age, decreased from 6% (18,400 persons) in June 1996 to 5% (17,500 persons) in June 2005. There was little change in the proportion of college aged persons in the ACT during this period.

Primary school ages
Between 1996 and 2005, the number of primary school age children in the ACT decreased by 2,600, or 8%. The greatest increases were in the developing areas of Nicholls, Ngunnawal, Amaroo and Dunlop, while the greatest decreases were in Kambah, Wanniassa, Chisholm, Kaleen and Monash.

High school and college ages
In both 1996 and 2005, the SLAs with the highest numbers of high school or college age persons were Kambah (2,300 in 1996, and 1,400 in 2005) and Wanniassa (1,200 in 1996, and 840 in 2005).

Overall, there has been a 5% decrease (1,500 persons) in the population of high school or college age between 1996 and 2005. The largest numerical increases over this period were in Acton, Amaroo, Banks and Ainslie, while the largest decreases were in Kambah, Yarralumla, Weston Creek-Stromlo, Wanniassa and Weston.

source: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/8DB32ABAC6082D01CA2571CA007A3681?opendocument

sepi, now that would take strategic planning-type thinking…

Something none of them knows how to do.