Profit ‘not firm’s school of thought’

By Rebecca Fraser
A COMPANY planning to open a new school in Narre Warren South next year has hit back at speculation it is out to make a profit.
Independent Colleges of Australia (ICA) has submitted an application to the State Government for approval to open a private prep-to-year 12 college on Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road.
The move came after Casey Council amended a local development plan last December to make way for the development which, if approved, would eventually include an early-learning centre, junior, middle and senior school.
Recent media reports have claimed that ICA was created by, and was aligned with, Australian childcare empire ABC Learning Centres.
Profit-making schools are not permitted to operate in Victoria and ICA chief executive Tom Mould this week said ICA had no connection with the ABC group and was not out to make money from the proposed development.
A spokesperson for Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky also confirmed that ICA’s application was for a not-for-profit school.
The Education Department spokesperson said the application would be judged on this basis and put under close scrutiny like any other applicant.
Mr Mould, a former primary school principal, said the company was hopeful of opening a school in Narre Warren South next year, which would be its first college in Victoria and quite possibly its first in Australia.
“We anticipate that there will be absolutely no barrier to us opening next year.
“We are very serious about what we do and we want to do this well for the children of Casey. We are not here to make money,” he said.
Mr Mould said ICA, a Queensland-based company, was a completely separate not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and had no shareholders.
He said two directors of ABC, including company founder Dr LeNeve Groves, sat on the ICA board, but this was the only relationship.
Mr Mould stressed that Dr Groves was on the ICA board as she held a PhD in early education.
He said when the company started just over two years ago ABC had offered start-up funds and asked if ICA was interested in running a range of education services in conjunction with ABC.
This offer was not taken up, but Mr Mould said ICA had spent the past two years trying to dispel the myth that the company was out to make money and tied to the big childcare chain.
Mr Mould said the ICA teaching model incorporated both traditional educational values and innovation and the company hoped to have at least 50 students enrolled at the Narre Warren South school for next year.
The new school will be called Independent Colleges Australia’s Casey College and a December council report states the school intends to build the facility over five to seven years.
The Oakwood Riding School will cease using the site after this weekend and is moving to bigger premises in Thompsons Road in Clyde, where it will reopen in August.