Hobart High School: Fight for co-ed city high school continues
AS the fight for a new Hobart high school continues, there are suggestions New Town High and Ogilvie could be become co-ed.
Education
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PARENTS pushing for a co-ed high school in Hobart say they simply want the same options for their children as residents of other regions around Australia.
As with any issue regarding education in Tasmania – such as the failed attempt to lower the school starting age and calls to abolish the college system – the debate over the future of secondary schooling in Hobart is becoming heated.
The state government has all but ruled out building a new inner-city high school, so attention has shifted to potential changes to the two single-sex public high schools in Hobart – Ogilvie and New Town.
Hobart is the only capital city in Australia that does not have a central co-ed public high school, with students having to travel to Taroona. There are co-ed schools in neighbouring Clarence, Kingborough and Glenorchy.
The focus on Ogilvie and New Town, which have been all-girls and all-boys respectively since the 1960s, has made some existing parents nervous that delivering the choice of co-ed may strip the community of the option of single-sex schools.
Philippa Duncan, from the recently formed Hobart High Community, which has nearly 600 members on Facebook, said the issue was not co-ed versus single-sex, but rather the current lack of choice.
“Our ask is simple — for Hobart families to have the choice of co-ed in their community, just like every other LGA around Australia,” Ms Duncan said.
“Hobart families shouldn’t have to put their kids on a bus and send them out of the city, adding to traffic congestion and costing families time and money. We’re not asking for anything extra, just what other communities already have.”
The Tasmanian Schools Association worries the push for a co-ed high school will be at the expense of single-sex public schooling, particularly as New Town and Ogilvie are already partnering with inner-city Elizabeth College to provide co-ed classes across the three campuses.
The education department is surveying community members to gauge support for increased co-educational opportunities at schools, with 1000 responses so far and 290 people opting to be part of a more detailed consultation process.
“The survey is really broad, testing appetites for changing the current model of delivery and, if so, what that model might look like,” New Town High principal Dave Kilpatrick said. “Next we’ll be drilling down and asking those community members, ‘What’s your dream school of the future?’.”
Ms Duncan said the members of the Hobart High Community would not be content with anything short of a stand-alone co-ed school for the city.
“Whether the government decides to address the co-ed gap in Hobart with a new school or an existing school is a decision for the education minister,” Ms Duncan said.
“This doesn’t just affect people with kids, it is a planning issue. It affects people driving to work because 1000 kids heading down to Taroona to go to high school puts a lot of traffic on the road.”
A feasibility study into a new high school for Hobart, which was completed last year, has not been released publicly.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said he expected the department to provide him with “a comprehensive report later this year on the best way forward”.
“This will include findings from public consultation and the feasibility study and it will be publicly released,” Mr Rockliff said.
Respond to the survey at www.education.tas.gov.au/community-and-engagement/get-involved/
Parents seeking choice for children’s education
THE common thread that emerges as Hobart parents talk about their wish for a co-educational local high school is a strong desire to be part of a school community.
Wanting brothers and sisters to attend the same school, wanting single children to have a broad range of friends, and not wanting to impose on kids a sense of difference between sexes are some of the reasons cited by members of the Hobart High Community group.
It is a hot schoolyard topic in schools such as Mt Stuart and Lenah Valley primary, where the closest public high schools are single-sex New Town and Ogilvie highs and the co-ed options are a bus ride away in Taroona and Glenorchy.
Shana and Charlie Williams, of Lenah Valley, have three young boys, who have a lot of male cousins.
They believe co-ed schooling would give the boys a more balanced view of the world, exposing them to “perspectives, voices and issues that may not naturally come up” at home.
Nina Casimaty and Wayne Cowley have a daughter, Quinn, 8, and son, Seth, 6, who are just a year apart at school.
“With our children so close in age, a co-ed high school gives them support networks with each other and their friends,” Ms Casimaty said.
“Having both children at the one school allows us all to invest more time and better energy into one school community.”
On the other side of the debate, many parents have spoken up in support of the single-sex models of Ogilvie and New Town, with one mother telling the Sunday Tasmanian that girls in particular could be exposed to more leadership opportunities and may be more enthused to take up STEM subjects at an all-girls school.
Others believed some disadvantaged students benefited from access to the public single-sex model, which is unique to Hobart in the Tasmanian context.
Mrs Williams said she felt it was important that all Tasmanians should have a “choice to send their kids to a local, excellent, co-educational public school”.
sally.glaetzer@news.com.au
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