By Faith Macale
As one of Australia’s fastest growing municipalities, Melton Council has called on the state government to ensure there are enough secondary schools in the pipeline to meet ever increasing demand.
At the December council meeting, councillors requested information on all future planned public secondary schools, and a review of the provisions of secondary schools in Melton considering the rate of growth and the number of babies born.
Councillor Sophie Ramsey said that more secondary schools are going to be urgently needed in the not-so-distant future.
Currently, there are only four public secondary schools in Melton, and one senior college.
Mayor Steve Abboushi said 73 babies are born every week in the municipaliy, which equates to three classrooms full of children every week by the time they are five years old.
“While Council is appreciative of the investment in early childhood education and schools, we seek assurances that this investment will continue in line with growth,” he said.
“The need for a pipeline of secondary provision is critical when you consider the secondary school population (12-17 years old) is forecast to grow by 61.4 per cent between 2021 and 2031.
“This indicates eight new schools will be needed to provide the education foundation for our students to reach their full potential.”
A spokesperson said the state government had invested $16.9 billion to build, upgrade and expand schools across the state since 2014.
“More than 50 per cent of the schools that have been built across the whole of Australia in the past ten years have been built right here in Victoria, by our government and we will continue to build the schools needed for Victorians,“ the spokesperson said.
Yarrabing Secondary College in Aintree opened in 2024 and a new secondary school will open in Cobblebank in 2026.
Beyond this, sites for several proposed government secondary schools in the City of Melton have been identified in Precinct Structure Plans.
Cr Lara Carli said “I think the state government has done a great job for primary schools in our community, but where do our kids go when they need those secondary school options?”
Cr Kathy Majdlik said it will be interesting to see the plans for Melton, considering it is one of the municipalities with the highest expected growth rates.
“Education is something that I’ve always been passionate about,“ she said.
“It will also be interesting for our residents to see what the plans are from the state government in regards to secondary schools.”
