Sacred Heart Primary School in Yarrawonga will lose seven of its 13 Learning Support Officers in January while teachers are expected to us a one-size-fits-all approach to classroom learning. Photo: Sacred Heart Primary School
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Sacred Heart Primary School Yarrawonga
As parents at Yarrawonga’s Catholic schools grapple with radical changes to the way their children are being taught, and staff losses, Catholic Education Sandhurst Limited (CESL) says, under the changes, results have considerably strengthened.
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A spokesperson for CESL said Sacred Heart Primary School Yarrawonga had long demonstrated good results, and this year, for the first time ever, both the school’s Year 3 and Year 5 students achieved proficiency rates and average NAPLAN scores above the Victorian average.
“The current Year 5 cohort has performed better overall than the Victorian and Australian averages,” the spokesperson said.
“When compared to other inner regional schools in Victoria, Sacred Heart Primary School, Yarrawonga has performed consistently better across all year levels.”
One educator who spoke to the Yarrawonga Chronicle said the positive outcomes in NAPLAN were always going to be positive in year 5.
“That cohort was off the charts in year 3 in 2024,” they said.
The changes, under the Magnify Sandhurst program, have been universally mandated in schools across the diocese and described by the educator as “whole-scale change for the entire system where every school has to operate the same way, regardless of performance”.
Every teacher must teach the same way, with a provided slideshow to talk to.
Concerns centre around children being bored, those needing extra support being left behind, and early years teachers having all lessons prepared for them and not learning by experience.
One of Sacred Heart’s Learning Support Officers told the Yarrawonga Chronicle that of 13 LSOs, seven would be made redundant from January 26, 2027.
They said the six remaining LSOs could have their hours cut to four a day instead of six.
A teacher who contacted the Yarrawonga Chronicle, under the condition of anonymity, described the situation as being handled “like a dictatorship” by CESL.
The teacher said parents were extremely concerned about the proposed cuts and changes to learning support staff, which could significantly reduce the support available to children who need it and increase class sizes.
The Parents of Catholic Education Sandhurst Facebook group has grown from 300 members two weeks ago to 1,600 this week.
Teachers in Victoria’s Catholic education system are represented by the Independent Education Union Victoria Tasmania (IEU), which is meeting weekly with CESL representatives to try to resolve member concerns.
General secretary, David Brear said staff had been working with members at the school level to work through the impact of some of the changes school leaders were being directed by the diocese to make.
The union is holding twice weekly online information sessions for members which Mr Brear said had been particularly well attended by staff from both Catholic schools in Yarrawonga.
“There’s genuine fear and concern in schools, not only about the effect of cuts on staff, but also about the effect of these cuts on students.”
“It’s no surprise that staff are feeling vulnerable when in some workplaces, hours are being cut back and jobs may be lost,” Mr Brear said.
“There’s genuine fear and concern in schools, not only about the effect of cuts on staff, but also about the effect of these cuts on students.”
Mr Brear said there were mixed views about Magnify in schools and while the centralised development of learning resources can take pressure off educators in terms of lesson preparation, teachers complain that the one-size-fits-all application doesn’t suit all students.
He said many teachers say their autonomy and professional judgement is eroded by the program, particularly in terms of the way it’s implemented, and they feel under pressure to rigidly stick to it.
“The work of LSO’s is largely concerned with supporting the different needs of students in class,” Mr Brear said.
“These job cuts mean that there will be fewer LSOs in the room, which means teachers will have to pick up the slack to support students.
“It also means that there is an increased chance of students becoming disengaged, which can have an adverse effect on the learning environment.
“What’s happening in schools right now proves the point that not only competitive salaries but fair processes around change, workload and job security are really important parts of any industrial agreement.”
The Parents of Catholic Education Sandhurst Facebook group has grown from 300 members two weeks ago to 1,600 this week.
In Yarrawonga a meeting has been organised for 6.30pm on Thursday, September 17 at ClubMulwala for parents, teachers and community member to discuss their concerns, confirm facts and “create a solution moving forward”.
