Seddon, Kingsville, Yarraville (SKY) High Working Group (WG) are still waiting on the next steps in process for development of additional secondary college facilities in the SKY neighbourhood.

SKY High representatives met with the Education Minister Ms. Bronwyn Pike, Education Department representatives and local politicians Ms. Marsha Thomson MP and Mr. Wade Noonan MP on Wednesday 14th April 2010. At this meeting, the SKY High WG accepted the independent consultant's provision report that found there was not a requirement for a stand alone, 7-12 secondary college, but there was an unmet need.

Minister Pike stated that the next steps were the exploration of a ‘range of configurations (to be considered) to deliver secondary education in the SKY area'. Advice in the meeting with Minister Pike was that the SKY High WG could expect the next steps in the process to be available within a couple of weeks from the meeting. SKY High are still waiting for the next steps as an outcome from this meeting and have yet to be updated or consulted with.

SKY High spokesperson Ms. Susan Douglass said that "SKY High is disappointed that we have not been contacted by the Education Department as yet." The SKY High WG has contacted our local members and understands that they are as frustrated as anyone with the Department's inactivity in progressing the investigations. Ms. Marsha Thomson, Member for Footscray said that "they are equally frustrated with the Departments lack of response".

Despite the lack of response, SKY High members have taken Minister Pike's advice and are preparing a plan for an innovative, local high school facility that will meet the needs of our local children, families, community and school communities of Melbourne's inner west. Ms. Douglass says that "this is an opportunity to create a unique education experience for our children that will be an asset to our broader community. As a result we have broadened our consultation process and are now in active consultations with local businesses, service providers and major industries".

SKY High are moving forward with their planning for a new local secondary college facility and is currently researching three key elements which they believe will guide them in identifying the best possible configuration for a local secondary college. These include:

• Where a local secondary college facility might be located in our community;
• What industries could a local secondary college facility partner with to create a fantastic education experience with unique community and broader benefits; and
• What educational model would best suit our students and the broader school community in Melbourne's inner west.

Ms. Douglass says that "we have set ourselves a huge task in researching the above three key elements. We are looking for a lot of support from our local business and community members to assist us in this research. The SKY High WG has developed their next steps to fit the goal of bettering public education outcomes for both our local community and the greater inner western region."

The SKY High AGM is on Wednesday 28th July, 8pm at Yarraville Community Centre and is seeking interested people to come along and work with the group on this next exciting phase. We encourage any person, group, business or industry who would like to participate in creating an innovative post primary education facility in the SKY area to please contact the SKY High WG.

We have already established the need and are now planning for our local facility - the SKY neighbourhood will get secondary college, we now have to work on what form it will take.

For further SKY High information, please see www.skyhigh.org.au
or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Media Enquiries: Susan Douglass m: 0488 600 842
Janine Lloyd m: 0424 646 595 e: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it