A YEAR after Mowbray College imploded with debts of $28 million, self-made millionaire Intaj Khan has applied to open a private primary school at one of its campuses.
Mr Khan, a Wyndham councillor, hopes the first prep class of West Melbourne Grammar School will start in 2014 at the Caroline Springs campus he bought for $6.7 million last year.
He had intended to offer courses in building and construction at the site, similar to those at his Western Institute of Technology.
But after speaking to parents and examining census data pointing to the need for more primary schools in the booming western suburbs, Mr Khan last month lodged an application for a new secular independent school with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority.
“There are not many grammar schools in the west . . . there is a big demand from people who would like to send their kids to a multicultural school that is not dominated by one religion,” the father of five said.
THE CLOSURE: Tears, regrets flood Mowbray campus
IN COURT: Mowbray College fears arose in 2010
The proposed logo for the school is Noli desistere discere, which Mr Khan says is Latin for “Never stop learning”.
He learnt from the mistakes of the former board of Mowbray College, which collapsed in June last year, leaving about 1200 students and 200 staff without a school.
Mr Khan says Mowbray College grew too quickly and expanded to three campuses before it was financially viable. “We want to make sure that won’t happen again.”
West Melbourne Grammar would be funded by a trust, West Melbourne Education, run by a board of experts, including himself, an accountant and a former associate professor from Victoria University.
While Mr Khan acknowledged parents had expressed a desire for a secondary school, he wanted to start conservatively, with a prep class in 2014, expanding to a prep to year 6 school by 2020.
“Starting with a secondary school could jeopardise our business plan – there is no guarantee we would receive the enrolments,” he said. “Starting from prep the expenses are less and the community can embrace the culture.”
Mr Khan’s three-year-old son Wildan will be the first student enrolled. “If you are going to make a sandwich, you have to eat it before you give it to other people,” he says.
West Melbourne Grammar is seeking expressions of interest for 2014 prep enrolments at wmgs.2013@gmail.com
