Surfside Primary School council president says there’s not enough toilets for students, families turned away

The council president of one of the fastest growing primary schools in the Geelong region has revealed why new students should have strong bladders.

Surfside Primary School council president Eloise Cann, left, and parents Stefanie Henderson, vice president Erik Wirtz and Sabrina Lunn with students, is calling for updated and additional school facilities. Picture: Alison Wynd

One of the Geelong region’s fastest growing primary schools doesn’t have enough toilets to cater for its students, the council president says.

Surfside Primary School was found to be among the top 10 schools with the fastest growth between 2018 and 2022 in a recent analysis of federal government data.

But council president Eloise Cann described the school as “grossly” under resourced.

Ms Cann said there were not enough toilet facilities to cater for the number of students, and that was just the beginning of the issues.

The government school is zoned for families in parts of the Ocean Grove, Marcus Hill, Wallington, and Mannerim suburbs.

She said there were lots of young families moving into the area who were interested in sending their children to the well respected school.

Ms Cann said the school started with about 250 students, and was now at 540.

“If they’re zoned, we have to take them,” Ms Cann said.

“It’s all well and good, but we don’t have enough facilities.

“We get great results academically, we’ve got great inclusivity, we’ve got a good reputation.

“We welcome you with open arms, but hope you have a good bladder.”

Ms Cann said there was also no area where the whole school could meet inside.

She said whole school assemblies either had to be held outside, weather dependent, or be held twice, with half the students attending each.

Ms Cann said the school needed a “massive redevelopment”.

“It’s just not acceptable,” she said.

“There’s just these band-aid fixes.”

Ms Cann said areas where the school was under resourced according to the Victorian School Building Authority’s (VSBA) schedule included physical education/gymnasium, music space and canteen.

She said the school also didn’t have a science or technology space.

According to MySchool data, in 2021, Surfside Primary was allocated $1.12m in federal recurrent funding and $4.6m in state recurrent funding, and just under $402,000 in capital funding.

Minister for Education Jason Clare said the government was committed to working with state and territory governments to get every school to “100 per cent of its fair funding level”.

He said almost no public school in the country was fully funded at the moment.

“That’s not fair,” Mr Clare said.

“We’ve got to fix this funding gap and fix the education gap.

“Next year we will negotiate a new school funding agreement with states and territories.”

The federal government’s recurrent funding for schools is calculated with reference to each school’s Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), based on the recommendations of the 2011 Review of Funding for Schooling (the Gonski review).

Geelong-based Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said the federal and state governments were failing to provide the essential infrastructure and services needed to keep pace with rapid population growth.

“Our region is the fastest growing in the country, yet our community is being desperately shortchanged,” she said.

“Surfside Primary School needs immediate investment to ensure local students receive the education they deserve.”

Originally published as Surfside Primary School council president says there’s not enough toilets for students, families turned away