Parents at one of Sydney’s top-performing public high schools have started raising thousands of dollars to fund a legal challenge to stop the government from dismantling its year 11 and 12 senior campus model.
Freshwater Senior Campus students will on Friday morning stage a walkout to protest changes they say will ruin one of the best things about public education on the northern beaches.
Freshwater High school captains Sophie Rawstorne and Sebastian Rayel say the current model worksCredit: Edwina Pickles
The Education Department revealed plans just before Christmas to shut down its senior campus model for year 11 and 12 students and transform it into a year 7 to 12 school. It was done as part of Labor’s election commitment to give parents across Sydney access to co-ed schools.
Parents this week launched a fundraising campaign to raise $20,000 to fund legal representation to stop the senior campus from being dismantled. It has so far raised almost $5000, and organisers say they plan to challenge the “flawed and inadequate consultation”.
“Despite Freshwater’s overwhelming success as a senior school, taxpayer money is being wasted on a plan to dismantle something that isn’t broken,” the fundraising page says.
Freshwater Senior Campus was established 20 years ago to combat the exodus of students leaving the public school system on the northern beaches. On that measure, it has been wildly successful, frequently attracting students from high-fee private schools and excellent HSC results.
Freshwater High School parent Liz Nable says the proposed change does not make sense.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“This is part of why parents, students and teachers are baffled about this,” mother Liz Nable said.
“They’re trying to solve a problem which doesn’t exist. If the problem was access to co-ed, this is so far down the list as a solution.”
The Department of Education’s consultation in December revealed that among parents of northern beaches primary school students, educational opportunities were the biggest decision-making factor when choosing a school. Academic performance was the next biggest factor. Co-education came in third.
Parent Julie Steele said the community consultation did not consider the value of senior campus education.
“It was slated as a consultation on co-ed, not a change of 7 to 12 – more families will be forced to go private,” she said.
School captain Sophie Rawstorne said she was not asked about the proposed changes.
“Even though they said they had provided the consultation to parents and students, and I have checked my inbox multiple times, I never received anything like that,” she said.
Fellow captain Sebastian Rayel said the school was one of the Department of Education’s successes.
“This is the worst solution to the [co-ed] problem ” he said.
Education Minister Prue Car did not answer questions. A spokesperson said the government was delivering co-ed education options as promised. “When the Department of Education considers a co-ed option for an area, they consult with the local community to understand what works best for each area,” the spokesperson said.
“We appreciate the sincere feedback being shared by current students and families, and we are committed to working with them throughout this process.”
Manly MP James Griffin implored the NSW government to sit down with the parents and have an honest discussion about the direction it was taking with Freshwater.
“They need to explain why this school has been targeted despite it being a shining success story of senior campus education,” he said.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.