By Colin MacGillivray
Kilmore’s Colmont School remains scheduled to be stripped of its registration despite Member for Euroa Steph Ryan calling for the State Government to halt the process until all options are exhausted.
Ms Ryan last week issued a statement calling for the government to guarantee the school would not be deregistered by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, VRQA, until new administrators from Cor Cordis were given a chance to rescue the school.
Creditors of Colmont, formerly known as The Kilmore International School, voted this month to replace administrators from Vince and Associates engaged by the school board with those from Cor Cordis in the hopes of securing an arrangement with the school’s landlords to keep it open.
The landlords have claimed to be in contact with potential investors willing to save the school but are yet to provide more detail.
Ms Ryan said she wanted to see ‘every avenue … explored’.
“The school has appointed new administrators who are currently analysing the books, but locals are concerned that the VRQA will cancel the school’s registration,” she said.
Ms Ryan said Colmont’s closure would further strain government schools in the region that were already at capacity.
Following Colmont’s sudden closure Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said: ‘certainly we do have capacity at schools in the region to pick up anyone that needs a class, for both primary and secondary schools’.
But Ms Ryan said Ms Hutchins’ statement was ‘simply not true’.
“Broadford Secondary College has already turned away more than 30 prospective students for next year and, with a capacity of 825 students, the school is under significant pressure,” Ms Ryan said
“The government is holding the school hostage by refusing to invest if it takes students from outside its catchment. That has left local parents struggling to explain to their distressed kids why they can’t attend same school as their friends next year.”
A Department of Education and Training, DET, spokesperson said Broadford Secondary College had not turned away any former Colmont students and would not decline those who wished to enrol for the rest of the year.
He said the VQRA had issued a notice to Colmont administrators about its intention to cancel the school’s registration.
“The VRQA has been working with [DET], Independent Schools Victoria, the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria and the International Baccalaureate Organisation to support families to enrol their children at another school and to ensure a coordinated approach to contingency planning,” he said.
“The Department and the VRQA has provided information to families about alternative schools. Every eligible child has the right to enrol at their designated neighbourhood government school.”
Broadford Secondary College principal Tania Pearson said no former Colmont students had attempted to enrol, although the school would be willing to accommodate them.
She said the school was, however, at capacity for incoming grade seven students.
“[The day after Colmont’s closure was announced] we had families ringing us in a panic, and then we put all day Friday aside to make appointments for families and not one of them showed up or bothered to tell us they weren’t going to attend,” she said.
“We didn’t take any enrolments, not because we didn’t want to, but because it just didn’t happen.
“We’re at capacity with our transition for next year. For any student who is out of our zone and doesn’t have a sibling claim, we’ve been advised by the department to not accept them.”
Ms Ryan said Broadford Secondary College’s catchment was defined by an arbitrary line drawn through Kilmore.
“This means some students who attended Broadford Primary School are now unable to go to school with their friends at Broadford Secondary College,” she said.
“With no public secondary school in Kilmore, Broadford needs urgent investment in its facilities to accommodate the growth that is occurring through the Hume corridor.”