By Robyn Grace
Four Melbourne Catholic schools will be closed, leaving more than 300 devastated families scrambling to find new places for their children in 2024.
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools confirmed the closures on Thursday afternoon, in what one mother called “horrendous, gut-wrenching and heartbreaking news”.
St Bridget’s Catholic Primary School in Balwyn North.Credit: Joe Armao
The primary schools that will close at the end of the year are St Bridget’s Catholic Primary School, Balwyn North; St John’s Primary School, Clifton Hill; St Joseph’s Primary School, Black Rock; and St Mary Magdalen’s Parish School, Chadstone.
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) executive director Dr Edward Simons acknowledged it would be upsetting news for school communities and said MACS was committed to helping students, staff and families transition.
Schools were informed in May they were under review, as all campuses with fewer than 150 students were assessed for enrolment prospects, financial and education performance, and whether enrolled families were open to attending alternative schools.
“Over the past few months, we held several meetings with principals, parish priests and parent representatives as part of the consultation process to understand how we could best support these schools,” Simons said.
“After weighing up a range of factors and careful consideration of significant community feedback, we have come to the difficult decision that it is not viable to continue operating these schools into the future.”
Independent federal MP Monique Ryan said she would fight the decision to close St Bridget’s, which is in her electorate.
“I don’t think they’ve got this one right,” she said on Thursday evening.
Vicky Young, president of St John’s Clifton Hill Parents and Friends, described the decision as “horrendous, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking news”.
Young said many of St John’s families were from vulnerable and low socio-economic families and the Catholic diocese had failed its community with the process, which she described as “an absolute sham”.
“As a practising Catholic, I’m appalled by the complete amount of mistrust, failure of process, lack of governance and absolute disregard for humans and the Catholic youth they’re supposed to be fostering and supporting,” she said.
Young said St John’s had passed all the review criteria except enrolments, and families had developed a marketing plan to attract more students.
“They haven’t listened to our data, they haven’t listened to our stories,” she said. “The system has just spat us out.”
St John’s has about 80 students currently enrolled. Young has two children at the school and her daughter is school captain.
She said families would meet on Friday to put together an action plan. Most were hoping for grounds to appeal.
Becky McDonagh and her son Harry. Harry attends St Joseph’s, one of four Catholic schools that might close.Credit: Simon Schluter
Another St John’s parent, who did not want to be named, said other schools in the local area were “bursting at the seams”.
She said she was unconvinced the review process had been genuine and said the outcome had her “questioning my faith”.
“It’s negligent, what they’ve put us through,” she said.
Simons said MACS would support students, families, carers and staff with their transition to new school communities, including with fee relief, uniform support and redeployment.
He said all school sectors needed to make difficult choices to ensure the long-term viability of the system.
“With almost 300 schools and 110,000 students, we have a responsibility to use all our resources as effectively as possible to build a thriving and sustainable education system that meets the evolving needs of students and parish communities across the archdiocese,” he said.
“Our modelling shows that demand for Catholic education is growing in Melbourne’s northern and western corridors, where we have opened 12 schools since 2018, servicing a combined number of 4766 students.
‘The system has just spat us out.’
Vicky Young, president of St John’s Clifton Hill Parents and Friends
“At the same time, we continue to support schools with small student cohorts to flourish and have plans to open seven new schools over the next three years in identified growth corridors.”
Becky McDonagh has two children at St Joseph’s in Black Rock, which has about 75 students.
McDonagh, whose eldest son has special needs, said the closure had looked like a fait accompli before the review was even complete. She said the new principal’s attempts to improve the school and raise enrolments had all been thwarted by MACS.
“I have lost a lot of faith because of them,” she said. “I understand it’s a business, I understand it’s not a charity but the way they’ve gone about this, it’s so underhanded. It goes against everything that the church should stand for.”
McDonagh said she had made approaches to other Catholic schools in the area and had been told they were all full. Her boys are now on the waiting list at a nearby public school but have already been told they are out of the zone.
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