As a former student (graduate) from one of the primitive predecessors of the so-called Super School concept, I am ready to speak out about the priorities and spending from these schools.
At A***** School, year 3-10 students share the same grounds, with no privacy from each other, the seniors (9/10’s) sharing classes with many year 8’s, who have no idea of what respect is, and then they allow students, who are failing, and teachers, who can call parents for wearing the wrong colour/material of pants, yet can’t provide support for bullied students. No advanced science classes – let alone ones that last for any more than a semester, yet there are 4 home economics, and 6 P.E. classes.
Then there is the spending. What would students do with a big-screen plasma TV the science preparation room wall when the gas taps are broken (probably by year 8s), why would smartboards be needed for Kindy classes when there is no books in the lavish, air conditioned library, for seniors. And where’s that gifted and talented program that they promised?
No wonder the parents of gifted students are sending their children to private schools, or one of the more established public schools.
I have written to Mr. Barr about selective schools, but he says it would be too hard, even though areas can probably be amalgamated and one school from each side of the city could be converted to selective. For example, Lyneham and Campbell High Schools could merge their areas, one of them only taking students who recieve higher than a certain percentage on a test. He does say that there will be more spending on gifted and talented programs, but in some of these schools, this will only amount to another Mercedes-Benz for the principal and another 5 plasma screens and coffee machines for each staff study.
Thank you for reading.
Support your child’s/childrens’ future by sending them to a decent local school, public or private.