Margaret Strelow joins parents in call for new Gracemere High School commitment

Frustrated parents had all but given up after a 30-year campaign for a new high school in one of Central Queensland’s fastest growing spots. Now, one high-profile voice has reignited the spark ahead of this year’s state election. DETAILS, VIDEO.

Overcrowded buses, high student to teacher ratios in classrooms, bullying and the overstimulating of children before they even get to a classroom are just some of the issues raised by parents calling for a high school at Gracemere.

The parents on Thursday joined former Rockhampton mayor and current independent candidate for Rockhampton Margaret Strelow in calling on the Labor Government and Opposition, to commit to building a high school at the satellite suburb with an opening date in 2028.

The community has been pushing for its own high school for almost 30 years.

Gracemere parent Jessica Lahrs, who has started a new Facebook group this week called Gracemere needs a high school, said parents had serious concerns nothing was being done and hadn’t been done for many years to address the issues of overcrowded school buses, bullying on those buses and children “getting lost in the big schools”.

“We feel that the kids aren’t getting the help that some of them really need,” she said.

“They’ve been asking for help in classrooms and the teachers don’t have time.

“Many of them don’t have time because they’re busy; they’re trying to control the kids that are out of control in the classrooms.

“Plenty of these students have learning difficulties, whether they are small or major, because a lot of the schools are now mainstream.”

Sarah Summerell said her children were nervous about getting on the buses because of the overcrowding and there was “so much” bullying occurring.

“I think if we had a high school out here... it would be much easier because if they have trouble we can come down to the school and talk with teachers … so much easier than having to drive all the way into Rockhampton to sort out a small issue,” she said.

Ms Summerell said getting a high school at Gracemere was the most talked about topic in the area and not one person she had spoken to was against the idea.

“A lot of parents feel there’s not much point in saying much because we are not getting heard,” Ms Lahrs said.

Cindy O’Brien said she had pulled two of her children out of Rockhampton High School and they now attended Mount Morgan High School, leaving home at 7.10am every day and not getting home until 5pm catching public transport buses.

“Their days are huge,” she said.

“We have to pay for that bus travel … it adds up quite phenomenally.”

She said she still has a fourth child yet to start high school and one at Gracemere would “help us tremendously”.

Mrs Strelow said the land on the corner of Johnston Road and Lucas Street had been set aside for a high school for many years.

Independent candidate for Rockhampton Margaret Strelow has issued a call to the State Government and Opposition to get a high school built at Gracemere by 2028 on a lot of land already owned by the Education Department on the corner of Johnston Road and Lucas Street.

“The community have been petitioning for a high school since at least 2012,” Mrs Strelow said.

“The numbers are there.

“Rockhampton High School is to capacity, or very close to it and there are hundreds of kids everyday who go by bus into Rockhampton.

“It’s not a good enough solution for them.

“We don’t accept the excuses the numbers are needed to keep Rockhampton High School up to the right numbers.

“Right now, this is where our growing families are and these parents have really had enough of the daily taking the children in or putting them on buses. That doesn’t work well for a lot of our students.”

She also said building a high school at Gracemere wasn’t just about education and students but also about growing the community.

How Gracemere has grown

Gracemere recorded a population of 12,031 persons in 2021, an impressive leap compared to the population recorded 20 years earlier in 2001 of 4,454.

The population of Gracemere grew from 8,401 in 2011 to 12,031 in 2021 (according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics) and is expected to grow to 14,756 in 2031, an increase of 4.8 per cent, according to the Rockhampton Regional Council’s Economic Profile by Economy.id, which uses a mix of ABS and Census data for its projections.

The InfoTrack property market update for quarter three 2023 named the top 10 locations with the highest volume of house sales from July 1 to September 30 with Gracemere at the top.

More than half of the Gracemere properties sold during that period, 52 per cent, were between $300,000 and $400,000.

It is the second consecutive quarter Gracemere has appeared in the top 10, moving from sixth place in quarter two.

Gracemere Shoppingworld revealed plans for an expansion at the centre which will include 500+ more carparks, a basement level, a children’s playground, taxi and bus rank, discount department store, specialty tenancies food court and outdoor dining.

A Hungry Jack’s is under construction and now plans have been proposed to build a neighbouring Zarraffa’s Coffee drive-through.

Looking back: The fight for a high school so far

The community has been calling for a high school to be built at Gracemere for almost three decades with a petition with more than 3000 signatures presented to then Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek in 2012.

It was presented to parliament by the then Rockhampton MP Bill Byrne, who was hopeful of building support for the proposed high school.

By this stage, the Gracemere Community Voice – a local group working together to address the needs of the Gracemere community – had tried to build support for a secondary school for almost 15 years.

During this time, there were two campaigns in Central Queensland to build high schools in satellite suburbs – at Calliope and Gracemere.

Calliope, which had a lower population and was about the same distance from its nearest public high school, won the campaign with a commit by the State Government in 2018 and the school opened for business in 2020.

In 2021, the population of Calliope was 5,263, an increase of 1,057 people across the 10-year Census period.

Mrs Strelow said that was a political commitment rather than a numbers-based commitment.

She said she and the community now called for “a common sense, numbers driven, commitment”.

“We’ve gone beyond the stage of begging,” Mrs Strelow said.

“It has reached the point where both the government and the Opposition need to explain to the Gracemere community why they still haven’t got their long promised high school.

She said former Rockhampton councillor Ellen Smith was able to present a case for the Gracemere High School at a recent Community Cabinet meeting.

Mrs Strelow said the State Government set out a commission to look at future demand for high schools in Queensland and a document published in 2020 stated Queensland needed one or two new high schools for Gracemere by 2031.

“We are only asking for one. If they get going now, have it open by 2028, that would just be dandy,” Mrs Strelow said.

Originally published as Margaret Strelow joins parents in call for new Gracemere High School commitment