What happens if your child misses a place at an out-of-zone secondary school?
After all the school tours, ATAR results research and paperwork, the wait is over for Year 6 students hoping for their dream placement. But what can parents do if they miss out?
Education
Don't miss out on the headlines from Education . Followed categories will be added to My News.
If you have a child starting Year 7 in a government secondary school in 2020, you’ve probably been through a punishing schedule of school tours, and even dashed hopes, to finally submit your paperwork.
For some families the research and preparation, including shifting into a new suburb to ensure they are in the school zone, tutoring to gain a place in a semi-selective school or taking up a musical instrument, has been a work in progress for some years.
With the first round offers out today, here’s what you need to know next.
HOW ARE SCHOOL PLACES DECIDED?
For families opting for a government school in which they are clearly in the zone and are happy the process will be cut and dried. Even if they have gone down that path they probably have considered options. Including non-government, single sex and co-ed.
The new findmyschool website has endeavoured to add clarity to the decision. While there will be a no-brainer for some families, others will have been jockeying to get to the school of their choice if they are not happy with their zoned school.
High achieving Balwyn High School receives many more applications than it has places and strictly ensures families live in the zone. It cautions families shifting into the zone to ensure there are places available in their preferred courses. It has a limited number of music placements in which potential students must apply by early June and be high achieving in music and across the board.
McKinnon Secondary College, in addition to the government forms, requires an expression of interest form which includes a mixture of original and duplicates of bills, current driver’s licence of the custodial parent and removalist records/receipts if the family has moved into the area in the past 12 months.
There was one case where a school knocked back a family of five living in a one bedroom flat which was in the zone, arguing it was not the permanent place of residence.
While parents will be able to enter schools on some grounds, many believe that schools will increasingly become local, neighbourhood schools. This is at odds with the ingrained approach that many people feel entitled to choose their own government school.
Parents might not be happy with their government schools on offer, but they often can’t afford private schools. Sometimes they opt for cheaper Catholic schools.
WHAT IF MY CHILD DOESN’T GET INTO THEIR CHOSEN SCHOOL?
Depending on the government school parents may be able to appeal the school they are allocated to attend.
However, Deakin University senior lecturer in the school of education Dr Emma Rowe says principals have a high level of discretion as who comes into their schools if the student is not zoned to the school.
When offering places at government secondary schools, once they have exhausted the students living in the zone, schools generally move through a list of criteria. These are clearly stated on school websites.
Once students within the designated zone are placed those already at the school with a sibling at the same permanent residence are often accommodated.
Then schools can enrol students outside of the zone on curriculum grounds or other grounds.
High achieving semi-select school Melbourne Girls College, once it has catered for in zone students and their siblings, offers 50 per cent of the remaining places to students excelling in the STEAM subjects.
Children are chosen on the basis of their school reports and they have to attend the school in June to respond to questions in a written piece. Each student is given a number to ensure anonymity. The responses are assessed by a panel of four at the school. This means you will have girls living in Alphington, Reservoir, Sunbury, Oakleigh and Williamstown travelling to the Richmond school.
After the STEAM students are accommodated places are offered to students not living in the zone in order of closeness to the school.
After families get their allocated school in early August they can appeal to the school before August 19.
It is unclear how many appeals are successful. However, parents may be able to argue on specific grounds. Proximity to the school, curriculum and extra curricular grounds. For instance, a child proficient at a musical instrument may seek entry to a school where music is a high priority.
The initial appeal is handled by the school and parents are notified by August 30.
Families then have two weeks to lodge a further appeal with the regional director.
In some cases families can appeal on compassionate or exceptional grounds.
Some schools have had their enrolment restricted by the regional director. For instance Box Hill has been told it has a ceiling of 1200 students.
Sometimes a spot may come up in the months between places being allocated and school starting.
For instance, a child allocated a spot in a government school may also have a spot at an independent or private school and decide between the two.
Their decision to go private may free up a spot.
Ultimately, it is an issue of supply and demand. A family wanting its child to go to an out of zone co-ed school, closer to their home by train than the co-ed zoned school and the available girls’ only school, was able to get in on appeal.
But, as our insider suggests, school choice is a moving feast. Often the highly desired school does not work out and the child moves. Some families might find that their children’s needs are different and they flourish at different schools.
Travel distances will also be a factor. A retired principal suggests that the child, rather than the parents, should feel comfortable at the school.
“Ultimately, your child needs to be happy to go to the school,” she said.
WHAT ABOUT SEAL PROGRAMS?
Families opting for accelerated programs will have applied earlier this year. The so-called Select Entry Accelerated Learning programs operate in around 40 government schools around Victoria. The State Government ceased accreditation in 2014. How this affects given schools will vary. However, Box Hill High School, for instance, was enrolling up to 50 children from all around Melbourne, from the inner city to Belgrave.
Up until 2018, when a department directive stopped the practice, Box Hill was taking three classes of 25 for the SEAL program, including 25 within the zone.
However, these 50 students who no longer go to Box Hill may be going to other high schools although insiders suggest they have been lost to the public system. It is suggested that some of them were able to get scholarships at private schools.
Williamstown High School, hotly sought in Melbourne’s south west, has a two pronged entry. Under general entry students can get in if they live in the zone but it cautions that if the siblings of current students live outside the zone they are not guaranteed entry. Priority is given to students for which the school is their closest government school and those in proximity before siblings.
Students who want to try to enter via the accelerated entry have to sit an exam this weekend. Registration has already closed. This year of 11 Year 7 home groups one was for accelerated students.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO EASE THE STRESS
While much is made of school reports and NAPLAN results, Dr Rowe argued that for many families school choice was an emotional decision.
“Parents have an emotional investment in choosing a school,” she said.
“I would argue a lot of emotional investment and the value that we attach to particular schools is based on seeing people like us in the school,” she said.
She said parents wanted to see other parents like themselves who hold similar values.
In a paper, Shopping for schools or shopping for peers, Dr Rowe said families choosing schools because of socio demographic characteristics were helping to exacerbate the differences between the quality of schools.
The paper, co-authored with Christopher Lubienski, suggested that peer groups and the physical location of the school were sometimes chosen over programs.
An experienced educator, who asked to be anonymous because of the Education Department’s tight rein on staff speaking, said they advised parents to be mindful how they discuss potential schools around their children.
“I always tell parents to keep their conversations about choosing schools with their children low stakes and not to create stress around this,” he said.
“I tell parents to not have the stressed parent conversations anywhere near their children.”
MORE: HOW TO SURVIVE SCHOOL FORMAL
IS YOUR SUBURB GETTING A NEW SCHOOL?
Dr Rowe said some families, who are typically well resourced, go to great lengths to ensure they get into the school of their choice.
“If you can get away with not paying private school fees, and if you have the resources to acquire enrolment into the school of choice. then people will,” she said.
She said well researched and well-resourced families might have bought a house in the school’s catchment.
But, not getting into the desired school can trigger a whole sense of grief for the family.
“Parents do sense there is a gap in schools and that some schools are fundamentally different to other schools,” she said.
She said schools which are continually shrinking their catchments as they become more prestigious and over subscribed, leave parents angry.
While Dr Rowe said parents might think they are choosing the school for their child the reality is that highly rated schools are doing all the picking.
“It is schools that are essentially picking the students, rather than the other way around, when it comes to prestigious or oversubscribed schools,” she said.
Which unis give you best odds of finding a job?
Nine out of 10 graduates from Victorian universities are working full-time three years after finishing their studies. See which are the top-ranked institutions for higher education in Victoria.
Your guide to schools around Dandenong
As more people move to Dandenong and Endeavour Hills, the need for secondary schools in the area grows. Here’s a comprehensive guide of each school you can send your child to, including the VCE scores, subjects and public transport options.