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Outrage over situation at Whittington Child and Family Centre: ‘this is not childcare. This is chaos’

Students at a Geelong primary school are causing “havoc” at a neighbouring kindergarten, with the situation getting so bad it’s led to ratepayer-funded security guards being brought in.

‘Troubled kids’ from Whittington Primary School have been causing havoc around the Whittington Child and Family Centre next door. Picture: Alison Wynd
‘Troubled kids’ from Whittington Primary School have been causing havoc around the Whittington Child and Family Centre next door. Picture: Alison Wynd

Victorian kindergarten kids are being guarded by ratepayer-funded security as local primary school children wreak havoc and send classrooms into lockdown.

Geelong ratepayers are forking out for security guards to protect toddlers at the Whittington Child and Family Centre after children at the primary school next door reportedly threatened families and staff.

Whittington Primary School is understood to have been plunged into lockdown at least once in the past few months due to incidents involving students.

Concerned parents told the Herald Sun they feared for their children’s safety.

James Feetham, who has children at Whittington Child and Family Centre, said children had been causing “havoc” around the kindergarten.

“They surrounded my car, I’d just put my kids in the car and they were scared,” he said.

“It takes a lot to shake me, and I was angry but I kept calm for my kids.”

Mr Feetham said he understood the kids involved had difficult family lives, but more needed to be done to support them and protect other children.

“Honestly I know they’re kids, I know they’re having a rough life but maybe they need more help,” he said.

Several incidents have been reported at Whittington Primary School. Picture: Alan Barber
Several incidents have been reported at Whittington Primary School. Picture: Alan Barber

Grandparent Tracey Harris said her son had received a call from the school on more than one occasion saying the school was in lockdown and he couldn’t pick her grandchild up.

“Hang on, that’s a primary school, this shouldn’t be happening,” she said.

Parent at the kinder Kellie Humphrey said she felt for the “troubled kids”.

Geelong council executive director for city life Anthony Basford said “disruptive anti-social behaviour” had forced the council to bring in security.

“For the past six weeks, we’ve funded a security guard to be stationed at the centre as a precaution,” he said.

“The safety and wellbeing of the children, families, and our staff at Whittington Child and Family Centre are our highest priority.”

He refused to say how much the council was spending on the security guards.

Western Victoria Region MP Bev McArthur said it was “outrageous” that ratepayers were being forced to fund security guards at childcare centres.

“Labor has failed to maintain basic discipline in education settings,” she said.

“This is not childcare. This is chaos.”

Opposition education spokesperson Jess Wilson said the state government needed to “get serious” about improving “deteriorating school behaviour”.

“The Allan Labor Government must get serious about improving school behaviour by better equipping teachers with the skills they need to ensure safe and conducive learning environments,” she said.

It’s understood the Education Department is assisting the school in responding to a number of recent incidents and that no students or staff had been harmed.

A department spokesman said Whittington Primary School had “robust policies in place to respond to any incidents of poor student behaviour”.

Originally published as Outrage over situation at Whittington Child and Family Centre: ‘this is not childcare. This is chaos’

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Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/victoria/outrage-over-situation-at-whittington-child-and-family-centre-this-is-not-childcare-this-is-chaos/news-story/667524f8f9bcd505c7e790a7c67d2099