PARENTS want space for a secondary school included in a revised Ballan structure plan after meeting to discuss locations last week.
Their campaign is being led by TAFE teacher and Ballan mother Gail Fiander, who says the town’s growing population will need its own high school within a few years.
Ms Fiander, who has launched a Moorabool-wide petition, said parents wanted space set aside in the structure plan so a school could be built once Ballan reached the required population threshold.
“We’ve been told by federal MP Catherine King that if we get it included, there’s a greater chance we’ll get it zoned,” she said.
Ms Fiander said parents often had to choose between extra-curricular activities for one child in Ballan and school pick-ups for a sibling in high school in another town.
‘‘They just can’t be in two places at once,’’ she said. ‘‘A lot of sacrifice is being made, of time and sleep.
‘‘Where’s the time for them [students] to study? My son is in year 7 at Mount Clear Secondary College in Ballarat, and for him it’s a 10-hour day.”
The campaign for a school is supported by East Moorabool ward councillor Tonia Dudzik, who said the fight would be fruitless unless land was put aside.
“If the area’s fully developed without taking [a school] into account, then we’re not going to be able to build one,” she said.
Council projections show Ballan’s current population of 2889 will reach 3164 by 2019 and 3508 by 2027.
The Education Department has complex criteria an area must meet before getting a new school. A spokeswoman said the usual long-term enrolment target was 1100 students.
“Usually this would require a potential opening enrolment of at least 300 and an expected growth rate of 150 a year to reach long-term enrolment of 1100,” she said.
Ms Fiander said there was widespread support in Moorabool for the school, meaning numbers would be achieved quicker.
“I’ve had parents from Bacchus Marsh who’ve said they’d send their kids to high school in Ballan,” she said. “We’ve had support from Gordon, Mount Egerton, Mount Wallace and Myrniong.”
But Moorabool mayor Pat Toohey said the likelihood of a high school being opened in Ballan before a second school in Bacchus Marsh was remote. He said Bacchus Marsh’s population would reach 20,000 before Ballan crossed the threshold.
A department spokesman said communications between the Ballan-based residents group and the department were under way.
“Ballan families have access to a number of government secondary schools in Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh and Daylesford,” he said.
“Schools in these towns have capacity for new students and are all within a reasonable distance of Ballan.”
