Parents say Labor ignoring funding pleas for struggling school

A special school in Melbourne’s north is so crowded students are missing up to 20 hours of class weekly as parents desperately call for funding.

Parents Sarah Lee and Angela Ferry with their children Savannah and Nicholas. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A special school in Melbourne’s north is so full that students are forced to attend class for just two hours a day.

Students at the Pavilion School in Epping miss up to 20 hours of class every week, falling behind pupils in mainstream schools, who are attending about 27 hours of school.

The shortfall means the school does not meet the minimum 25 instruction hours required each week under government guidelines.

Members of the school community have told the Herald Sun attempts to receive additional funding from the Andrews government have failed because the school, dedicated to helping vulnerable students with severe mental health issues, those in the youth justice system and in out-of-home care, is located in a safe Labor seat.

State Labor has held Mill Park for about 30 years.

Sarah Lee, whose 15-year-old daughter Savannah attends Pavilion, said pleas for more classrooms to local MP Bronwyn Halfpenny had fallen on deaf ears.

Sarah Lee, pictured with her daughter Savannah, 15, says pleas for more classrooms to local MP Bronwyn Halfpenny have fallen on deaf ears. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“It can be a problem when you get someone who’s held a state for so long,” she said.

“This school has been underfunded for a long time, and there’s an amount of complacency that can happen over certain issues when Labor is safe in their seat.”

She said the two-hour time crunch was especially concerning because the school’s aim was to have vulnerable children in class as much as possible.

“The school tries to do what they’re doing on the budget that they’re working with, and try to do it out of two classrooms.

“My daughter would love it if she could go for four hours, five hours, or even regular school hours.”

Epping opened in 2010 within Charles La Trobe College after the Department of Education requested the special school open a campus in Melbourne’s north to keep up with growing demand in the area, but Mr Murray said the school has remained underfunded ever since.

The school has two campuses, with 80 students between years prep to 12 learning on rotation out of two small rooms at the Epping campus, and another 200 students in Preston.

The Preston campus received $446,000 for building upgrades in this year’s budget.

But Charles La Trobe has not received Inclusive Schools Funding since 2019, and it is unclear how much of that funding flowed to the Pavilion School.

A Department of Education spokesman said all students who attended Pavilion were enrolled full-time.

He said: “Students who choose to enrol in the Pavilion School often attend with reduced hours as a transition to re-engaging in full time schooling, with support services offered to students who need them”.

Angela Ferry‘s son, Nicholas, attends the Pavilion School in Epping. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

But former principal and current council member Brendan Murray told the Herald Sun that students had no other option than to learn in two-hour “shifts” before they are encouraged to do remote study for the rest of the day because enrolments are at bursting point.

“The facilities just aren’t adequate enough for students to have their legislative needs met. It’s very disappointing,” he said.

“We just haven’t had the Education Department or the state government come to the party with upgrading facilities for these children so they can attend school all day, every day.”

“It’s really disheartening from our perspective, when you can see a lot of money that goes into school buildings, for upgrades of other schools.”

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said: “This school must be supported urgently with better facilities so that there are enough classrooms for every student to get full access to education”.

“This is because Labor has taken this area for granted for far too long and ignored the plight of this public school.”

It is understood that there are another 30 students on the Pavilion’s waiting list who currently do not attend school at all.

The Department did not address claims that Labor’s hold on the area influenced the amount of funding provided to the Epping campus when asked by the Herald Sun.

The Andrews government pledged $326m in this year’s budget to upgrade 36 special schools.

There are almost 17,000 Victorian students in special schools.

Ms Halfpenny was contacted for comment.