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Southbank Residents’ Group

Southbank Residents’ Group

Families in Southbank are worried and angry that there is no school here for their children.

New 2011 Census data shows a large increase in the number of children living in Southbank.

Southern Metropolitan MLCs Andrea Coote and George Crozier recently wrote to residents asking for views on the provision of government primary and secondary schools in the inner city.

“Parents are right to demand access to the best public education close to home whereby children can walk or ride to school with confidence,” Ms Coote wrote. Yet the Victorian Government feasibility studies looking at the provision of new schools ignores Southbank.

There has been a 67 per cent increase in the number of children aged 0-4 from 2006 to 2011. It is not just pre-school ages that have increased, 10-14 year-olds increased by 31 per cent and the 0-14 year-olds increased by 40.8 per cent.

These increases are of great concern to families. With Southbank’s zoned school of Port Melbourne Primary School already feeling the effects of overcrowding, where will all these new children go to school? There is no school for Southbank children to walk or ride to with confidence.

The reality is that Port Melbourne Primary School’s projected numbers are for 784 children in 2015. Clearly the 2011 Census shows that those numbers will be
exceeded. So where will Southbank’s children go to school?

A sharp increase in the birth rate and a cultural change which encourages young families to choose high density housing has led to the increase in the number of children in Southbank.

Planning advice on Fishermans Bend suggests up to seven new schools will be needed for the population of up to 60,000 in the first three stages. With Southbank’s population estimated to increase up to 74,000 it is obvious that Southbank needs its own local schools.

Members of the local community have formed the non-political Two Schools Now group, which is supported by the Southbank Residents Group, to campaign for the urgent establishment of two new schools. With Port Melbourne Primary School now seriously overcrowded and children from Southbank zoned out of other schools we need a school in Southbank now.

Two Schools Now and Southbank Residents Group hope all residents will sign the Two Schools Now petition calling on the Government to develop two local schools. It is now time for the Government to take decisive action on this matter.

Go to www.facebook.com/TwoSchoolsNow and www.facebook.com/SouthbankResidentsGroup

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