Parents angry as Parkwood Secondary College in Ringwood North is set to close

PARENTS and students are frustrated and upset after an eastern suburbs school council voted to close their school.

Mitchell Polly

PARENTS and students are frustrated and upset after an eastern suburbs school council voted to close their school at the end of the year.

Students at Parkwood Secondary College in Ringwood North have been told they may need to find a new school after this year.

Father of two Phil Bunston said he was very disappointed in the decision.

His elder son is in year 7 at Parkwood and his younger son was due to start there next year.

"We're very disappointed with the school. They obviously knew last month and haven't don't anything about it and we're just very disappointed we've paid for all the uniforms for my son...we just don't know where we're going to send them," Mr Bunston said.

"We tried Norwood yesterday but they were very busy and said they don't know if they'll be taking any enrolments in because they've got about seven classes of year 7s.

"We're very much lost. Me and my wife spent half of yesterday working out what we're going to do.

"The first thing my son said was, 'I'm going to lose all my friends'."

Principal Barbara Laidlaw said the school was working with families, and had planned a "community consulation meeting" next Tuesday.

"At the meeting, the school council will listen to the views of the community so that any action taken is in the best interest of the school's 300 students, bearing in mind the projected enrolment drop next year due to a decline in secondary school-aged students in the local area," she said.

"The consultation is being undertaken to ensure that Parkwood can provide students with the best possible options to support their future pathways. This is about what's best for our students."

Ms Laidlaw said the school council would then "consider a recommendation to be put to the Education Minister regarding the future of the school".

The school council voted in favour of closure last Monday, and explained its decision to parents in a letter on Friday.

"Despite the exhaustive efforts of previous principals and members of school council to investigate all of the options available to the college to remain viable and to stem the decline of enrolments, we are now regretfully writing to inform you that the projected number of student enrolments at Parkwood for 2013 is at a critical point,'' the letter said.

"The capacity of the school to offer all students the expected range of educational choices next year and into the future can no longer be guaranteed.''

Parent Mitchell Polley said his daughter, in year 8 at the school, was upset at the news.

"She's devastated. She's worried about losing contact with her friends," Mr Polley said.

"She loves that it's such a small school it feels like it's a tight-knit community, it does have a different feel to a school of 2000 students and she's going to miss that."

Mum Alison Hill has one son in year 8 at the school and her daughter is already at nearby Norwood.

"My son is in year 8 and he's hated school and he's just got settled, loves it here so now to have to think about going somewhere else. It's a horrible thought," Ms Hill said.

"There's schools around but there's about 400 kids who have to move. Where are they going to fit?

"My daughter goes to Norwood and that's chockers and I'm not sending him there, it's too big for him. He's not the sort of kid who will cope in a big school."

Most parents didn't know who to blame for the issue though some said the confusion over whether Parkwood would merge with Norwood had led to fewer enrolments, one of the reasons for the closure.