Students face portable school career

– Rebecca Fraser
STUDENTS at Berwick’s Kambrya College are facing the prospect of spending their entire school lives in portable classrooms, a school leader has claimed.
The Bemersyde Drive school currently boasts about 1200 students and school council vice-president Leo Hemmes predicts this number could soon peak near 1700.
From next year the Education Department will introduce zoning at the school which should see year seven numbers drop from about 360 students a year to a more manageable, but still high number of 250 pupils.
Mr Hemmes said the introduction of appropriate zoning was a case of too little too late, and the school’s population would remain very high until current classes, which were not subject to zoning, flowed through the school.
The school council vice-president, who has two children at the school, said due to its high student numbers, Kambrya was struggling for space and the college was expanding faster than any other college in Victoria.
Mr Hemmes said the Government had failed to address its high student population and instead of providing the school with permanent buildings they kept ‘plonking’ more portable classrooms on the site.
At present, all of Kambrya’s year seven students are situated in portable classrooms.
“It sounds quite absurd that there are students in this modern time, that face the prospect of having spent their whole primary and secondary school life not ever having a full time class room in a permanent building. It is like the difference between living in a house or a caravan,” Mr Hemmes said.
In a recent blunder, Mr Hemmes claims that the Education Department circulated a press release that said it was providing new, but still portable, buildings to Kambrya and other local schools.
However, when the college followed this up, it was found to be an error.
“There has not been a retraction in the papers from Minister Kosky or regional department staff, but maybe that is due to it being an election year,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Education Department said it was aimed to ensure funds were directed to those schools most in need when future capital works programs were being prepared.
“Kambrya College has permanent buildings for 950 students as well as relocatable classrooms to accommodate enrolment growth.
“Last year the college was provided with two new relocatable buildings as well as a further 14 refurbished relocatables, all equipped with air conditioning.
“Relocatable classrooms help the government school system cope with fluctuations in school enrolments from suburb to suburb.
“A $50 million State Government project is delivering 600 new relocatable classrooms to schools across the state.
“Delivery of the classrooms began last year and will continue, as the relocatables are built, until 2008,” the spokeswoman.