School kid. Image courtesy of khunaspix at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
How would you feel if you had to enrol your kids at separate schools? Yes this is happening, in the inner city parents have been told that due the number of children growing at inner city schools the boundaries are tightening.
Schools have told parents from Annandale North and Leichhardt Public Schools that there is no guarantee siblings will be able to enrol. Some parents have found themselves going to different suburbs to just drop each child off at school.
I cannot imagine how this adds to the day of stress just to get to work on time, and before you do that you have to navigate two different areas, traffic and all that goes with it to drop your kids at school. Not great if you ask me, it is quite the opposite and brings to mind some language that is not fit to print. You get where I am going with this. A stiff drink might be required for this stupid policy, really???? Why would you want your kids in different schools?
How do you get to each place at the same time for pick up? How would you get to both schools for functions/plays/sporting events and more? Maybe in a fantasy world, all events would be nicely spread out and would not clash. However in the real world, all events tend to fall on the one day and someone is going to be upset you did not turn up. Insert very upset face and angry parent symbol here.
Jamie Parker a Greens MP has been quoted in a Sydney Morning Herald article saying that the policy is cruel and not family friendly. Anything that makes you place kids in separate schools and makes you travel and puts you out is not family friendly. I wonder if the people who made these policies have their kids in the same school.
In the same article it tells us:
“An increase of 900 primary school children has been projected for the electorate over the next five years, but there are only 16 spaces in schools, including music and art rooms, that can be turned into more classrooms. Another 39 classrooms are needed and more siblings face being turned away as schools reach capacity.”
From what I gather it is down to very bad planning from the Department of Education for not allowing for growth and of course thinking that siblings would not want or need to attend the same school. Mr Parker is also blaming the former Labor government for this issue.
Annandale is an inner city school that is running out of room. In 2008 their enrollments were 353 and now it is 440. One idea was to have a demountable classroom on the small playground but there is no room.
I am not sure what the answer is if schools don’t have room. Maybe a new school/schools? Although creating, and building a new school takes time and might not answer the short term issues, but it would address the future ones.
Has your child been turned away from the school due to lack of space? Did you have to go to a neighbouring area? Let us know.