Have your say on education inquiry

In October 2022 the Liberal National Victorian Government announced that should it win the state government election, the college would receive its long overdue funding however as the opposition, this has not been the case.

Yarrawonga College P-12 School Council President Carolyn O’Dwyer described the current school buildings as not satisfactory for current day education standards.

“You can put a bandaid on things as much as you possibly can but our current buildings for the 7-12 area of the college are dilapidated, are nowhere near standard and simply can’t fit any more students,” Mrs O’Dwyer said.

“It is certainly not the environment for 21st century learning that our children should be entitled to.

“We have just been quite neglected with the lack of attention and funding that we are getting from our current government.

“This has been ongoing for probably 20 odd years and the only funding we have ever got was in 2012 which was the $6.7million for stage 1. That was over 10 years ago and we just keep missing out on finishing the project.

“Tim (McCurdy) has always fought the fight for us and been supportive especially in lobbying for us pre-election to be on the coalition list but without the coalition getting into power it hasn’t happened.

“We are certainly in a very positive position in terms of enrolments and programs and we know we are a priority within the education department, however they can prioritise as much as they like but if they can’t get the funding to finish existing re-development projects, it all becomes political unfortunately.

“That’s really disappointing that people are prepared to play politics with our children’s future.”

The college estimates that it now requires $18 million for the stage 2 capital works project which will include the construction of the following on the Gilmore St site;

•Year 7 and 8 general and specialist classrooms adjacent to the Year 5-8 basketball courts, closer to the overall college administration building.

•Year 9 – 12 general and specialist classrooms directly behind the college administration building.

•College basketball stadium and car parks to be utilised by students, teachers, and the community.

•College oval to be utilised by students and staff at YCP-12, Yarrawonga Mulwala Cricket Club, Yarrawonga Mulwala Little Athletics and other sporting groups.

Mrs O’Dwyer said that stage two is shovel ready with the land and underlying services in place while highlighting the adjacent Glanmire Park residential estate as an example of the community’s unprecedented growth and the subsequent pressure it places on local education.

“You only have to look out the back of the school at Glanmire Park. There is potentially hundreds of new families coming to town but just because we’re regional and not a marginal seat the government is not interested that Yarrawonga is growing at quite a good rate and there is just not the money for the infrastructure behind that,” Mrs O’Dwyer said.

“It is extremely disappointing that the state government doesn’t value the students of Yarrawonga and surrounding enough to provide us with facilities that the children deserve.

“We just can’t get that political push across the line unfortunately.

“I have to reiterate that it doesn’t affect what happens inside the four walls, we still run a really good program and always have the welfare and educational pursuits of the students at the forefront. It would just be really nice for them to have appropriate facilities for that to happen.”

Nationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy is urging everyone to have their say on the parliamentary inquiry with students’ futures being prioritised and inquiry submissions now open.

“It has been a long time – in fact almost 20 years – since there was a deep dive into the education system in Victoria,” Mr McCurdy said.

“The breadth of this inquiry really focuses on student learning outcomes – let us put Victorian students at the centre of this inquiry.

“It is important to unpack the issues in terms of listening to people in the field.”