Murwillumbah Mega-School
Murwillumbah Mega-School
The school yard battle taking place in our rural community
Part 1
Lack of Consultation
In the idyllic green valley past Tweed Heads sits Murwillumbah, a country town of about 10,000. Surrounded by sugar cane farms and guarded by the Tweed River, the town sits on the edge of the nationally protected Mount Warning. In a tight knit community where individuality is celebrated, a new battle has begun.
Murwillumbah is home to four schools, two primary, two secondary. At the end of 2020, NSW Liberal Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell announced that the four schools - Murwillumbah East Primary School, Murwillumbah Primary, Wollumbin High and Murwillumbah High, would be amalgamated into one ‘mega-school’, combining around 1500 K-12 students.
Tweed Mayor, Chris Cherry, has formally rejected the application on behalf of the Tweed Council
The community at first felt outraged by the decision and lack of consultation. As more plans have been revealed, anger is rising over the loss of teaching positions, planning and construction flaws, which includes lack of parking, not enough playgrounds and sporting facilities, and loss of independent schooling options in the area.
Labor MP for Richmond, Justine Elliot said no one knew about the proposal before the NSW government announced ‘the done-deal’ project.
Tweed Mayor, Chris Cherry, found out through the local newspaper, the Tweed Valley Weekly, about the press conference being held in Murwillumbah on the 28th October, 2020.
In attendance was former Deputy Premiere, John Barilaro, and Education minister, Sarah Mitchell. Announced at the front of the Murwillumbah High School was the decision by the New South Wales Liberal government. Despite the lack of warning and consultation Ms. Mitchell said the decision was final.
Protests and petitions to halt or reverse the decision have fallen upon deaf ears as the plan forges ahead.
​
"We’ve made the decision that this is the way forward...
Change is different and we know we’re going to need to be talking to our communities about the benefit of this."
Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell, announcing the mega-school at Murwillumbah High.
Photo by: Tweed Valley Weekly, 2020
The Tweed Shire council has formally rejected the mega-school application and released a report into the proposal which identified inadequate playing fields; indoor halls too small to be used as shared community spaces; a lack of shading for students; a 90-space shortfall in car parking spaces and an incomplete bushfire management plan.
Like many parents in Murwillumbah, Mayor Cherry supports the smaller schools, her children having attended Wollumbin High School.
"A big issue for our community is taking away the choice. There is quite a demand for people who want smaller schools, and believe that their child is better catered for in that smaller, learning environment; personally, that's what attracted me to Murwillumbah."
Cherry believes as a state government, they should be a model applicant and not cutting corners or flaunting local laws and regulations.
"We want the state to adhere to the local requirements. The proposal to have 16 metre high buildings in a nine metre high restricted area is just very insensitive to the existing environment around it."
Another problem with the proposal is the parking and traffic, which the Mayor says is the biggest issue in terms of community impact.
"In terms of numbers, they are proposing 161 car spaces, in total. It doesn't make any sense, when we think they need to provide a minimum of 199 just for staff, and then add your students, which they have provided zero for."
It is estimated that there will be 168 staff on site on any given day, meaning the overflow of staff and students will have to park on surrounding residential streets, many of which have timed parking limits.
One way the proposal explains these parking numbers is by suggesting there will be a large uptake in individuals cycling to the school. The Tweed council has responded by saying that is unrealistic given
the existing low cycling rates and survey results and minimal analysis of existing cycling infrastructure provided to justify the increase … and (with) no recent or future infrastructure upgrades detailed.
The application also suggests that 30% of teachers will catch the bus to work, yet the proposal also acknowledged that zero teachers currently use this method of transport.
Key Issues Email from Tweed Shire Council to Department of Education
“There's huge parking issues there and claiming that everyone's going to be cycling, quite frankly, is just rubbish” Labor MP Justine Elliot said.
​
Concern is also growing about the rise in traffic in the small country town, which funnels its congestion from the Tweed shire over the one bridge leading into town from the north, and through windy country roads from the south. The main street has one traffic light, and queues in the morning have a significant impact on the town.
​
Labor MP for Richmond, Justine Elliot. Source: Justine Elliot
“Traffic will be a complete and utter nightmare in terms of accessing the site,
something that's been repeatedly raised by all different organisations
across the board.”
Of the 9 civilian submissions of objection to the NSW government, 8 listed traffic as one of their main concerns.
The town also worries about the future-proofing of the school as it would represent a reduction in the number of student enrolments available in Murwillumbah. The concept plan for the mega school allocates up to 1,722 places at the new school, whereas the four schools currently have the capacity to enrol 2,508 students.
The NSW Department of Education says upgrading the existing school sites or amalgamating just some sites might deliver new and upgraded spaces for some, it would not overcome the constraints and issues associated with the existing buildings.
"The primary objective of investing in education infrastructure in Murwillumbah is to provide teachers and students from all schools with equitable access to new, flexible learning environments that support contemporary teaching approaches.”
​
The Murwillumbah High site was chosen because it was geographically central and has enough flood-free land to accommodate the education structure, as well as community requirements.
On the redeveloped site there will be a focus on building ties with industry to offer high school students enhanced vocational training and support improved pathways to employment in northern NSW. The site will also feature a community health hub, and has room to expand for a childcare facility.
The NSW Department of Education says “no decision has been made on the future uses for the three other school sites once the amalgamation project has been completed” stating they will consult with the local community moving forward.
Ariel View imagining of the new Murwillumbah Campus. Source Department of Education NSW
There have been multiple claims that the amalgamation is a result of a land grab in Murwillumbah.
“That is prime real estate land out there and I have grave suspicions there is a secret plan to sell it off to developers, quite frankly they (NSW Liberal government) won’t tell anyone what they’re doing” said Labor MP Justine Elliot.
Other sources guess it will be brought by other local private schools who can easily adopt the existing campuses.
After multiple attempts, no comment was received from the NSW Department of Education, or the Murwillumbah Project Media Team.
The NSW Labor government has said that if they win the state election next March, the amalgamation will not go ahead.
Anthony Albanese at Murwillumbah High. NBN News. November, 20. 2020.
Murwillumbah Primary School Murwillumbah East Primary School Murwillumbah High School Wollumbin High Schoool
Concept Plans
NSW Department of Education
Part 2
Staffing
The number of staff continuing on at the new school has been a contentious issue. When the plan was first announced in late 2020, all jobs were to be kept. Almost a year later, Education Minister Sarah Mitchell announced during Parliament Question Time that
“Staffing projections based on 2020 enrolment numbers indicate that, when combined, there would be 3.42 fewer teaching service positions and 1.262 fewer school administrative and support staff [SASS] positions in the primary school, and 15.5 fewer teaching service positions and 3.082 fewer SASS positions in the secondary setting.”
NSW Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell. Source Daily Telegraph
The NSW Teachers Federation opposes the mega-school proposal, largely because of the cut to teaching jobs and educational outcomes for students. Deputy President of the Federation, Henry Rajendra said the decision represents a government hell bent on saving as much money as possible.
"This is simply an economies of scale approach to the provision of public education in the Murwillumbah area, and what frightens us most is that the Minister (Sarah Mitchell) claimed in Parliament that the Murwillumbah project "is the first of its kind for regional New South Wales", putting fear into many communities across the state that could be the next target.
“The government has gone against the right regulation requirement in terms of consultation. For future communities, this means there is no guarantee that any community is protected from such forced amalgamations or school closures."
The Federation estimates that amalgamated Murwillumbah primary school will lose, at a minimum, one classroom teacher position, possibly up to two assistant principal positions, a principal position, and teacher librarian staffing. For the mega-school’s high school staffing it is calculated that at least 16 positions, 20% of the teaching staffing will be lost.
Some remaining Murwillumbah teachers have said a ‘gag order’ has been implemented, restricting them from speaking about the school merger.
New South Wales Leader of Opposition, Chris Minns, said he could not fathom losing 24 teaching positions during the time of a teacher shortage.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
“Last year, 1 in 9 teachers left after their first two years. There’s been a 30% drop in young people electing to study education at university. We have an absolute crisis when it comes to public education and teachers in particular and our public education system won’t be able to recover if we lose them” Mr. Minns said.
​
​Teachers are warning that uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads were contributing factors behind the shortages of teachers.
Leader of Opposition, Chris Minns, speaking to Murwillumbah residents. September 2022
The NSW Teachers Federation estimates another 11,000 teachers will be needed in the state by 2031.
In the rural regions, shortages are worse than they have been for the last 20 years, lagging most in high school teachers, with science and maths teachers in great demand.
As for teachers, securing a job in a rural school is usually seen as a ‘stepping stone’ to a bigger or better urban school. In the midst of a teaching crisis, some regional schools have seen a 75% turnover of their staff every few years, as those who have had to complete rural service move back to their homes, or more urban environments.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said that the government has a comprehensive rural incentive scheme, and $125 million has been committed to the Teacher Supply Strategy. This plan includes rural and remote incentives, such as scholarships and recruitment bonuses, and hopes to bring an additional 4,600 teachers to the NSW public school system over the next four years.
One discipline that is necessary to attract is the special education teachers and support staff. Currently only 9% of NSW teachers are approved for the special curriculum, but with demand for disability support growing at four times the rate of enrolment growth, and 61% of current specialised teaching staff aged over 50yrs, a widening gap is appearing.
In NSW, 76.8% of students with disabilities attend public schools, yet the schools do not always receive the funding needed, as resources are given out on a performance-based reward system. This widens the social divide, instead of closing the gap on student background and educational outcomes, leaving inclusion and equity sidelined in policy agenda.
It is not yet clear what support structure and programs will be offered at the Murwillumbah mega-school, but the program moving forward might need staff to lead it.
Town Response
- Murwillumbah Rally 26.09.22
Labor Opposition Leader NSW, Chris Minns, Lismore Labor MP Janelle Saffin, MP John Graham
Part 3
Murwillumbah and Rural Education
Associate Professor in the School of Education and Professional Studies, Katherine Main, has studied the holistic implementation of middle schooling and helped implement the national curriculum across the states of Australia. A.Prof Main says now the conversation should be shifted from whether the proposal goes ahead to what benefits can be gained from it.
“So the point of consultation isn't necessarily about whether it happens or not. It's about now what happens within that space that we can actually influence?
“The size of the school and the structure of the school isn't the biggest issue. The biggest issue is does it serve the community and do those kids have a sense of belonging to the school and see themselves within that school?”
A school in a regional community usually functions as a hub for economic and social activity, which binds communities together. Their role, especially in rural and remote communities, usually stands hand in hand with the identity of the town. This helps explain why communities feel strong ties to their schools, and why there is anxiety and stress associated with losing a school during an unpredicted consolidation - sentiments that are difficult to capture in pure economic terms. It’s also difficult to equate these schools to test scores such as NAPLAN or the HSC, but as to what they bring to the community. The meaning of schooling for a town is commonly tied to the trajectory of that town, their expansion and growth. In many regional areas, a strong secondary school is a major drawcard, preparing its students to become productive, economic citizens, either through traineeships, or securing university places.
A.Prof Main says one of the benefits of a K-12 school is the possibility of a vertical curriculum.
“So if you've got a child in year five or six, for example, that's gifted or needs extension in maths or science for example, they have access to the resources on the campus and that path.”
An advantage of a K-12 school is that the year 6 and 7 teachers are closer in proximity, to be able to talk and share. You don’t lose the records, understanding and progress of that child because it's contained within one school.
“Another positive in that model is a school that has a consistent language and sense of expectation throughout. It's smooth and helps some of those transitional issues that kids have from going from primary to high school.”
The NSW Department of Education has committed $130m to regional school consolidation projects, hoping to fix issues of student disengagement and under-achievement, and reduce government spending.
The NSW Liberal Government’s position on the school upgrade is provided to ensure “that regardless of location or circumstance, every young person has access to high quality schooling and opportunities.” But what does high quality schooling and opportunities look like in rural and regional NSW? Analysis of NAPLAN and HSC results show that the further away a school is from a metropolitan area, the lower the level of performance.
Reforms focusing on universal measures and a one-size-fits-all approach to school fail to include the issues of regional life, such as systemic resource distribution, social justice, and consider their historical and cultural contexts. How will the mega-school build that sense of community identity in Murwillumbah, while respecting the historic structures from where they came?
“You can’t put the same mega-school in Murwillumbah that you would in central Sydney, so now is the time for the community to push hard for consultation around what sort of programs are going in and how they’re intending to meet the educational needs of these kids and allow them to reach their potential” A.Proff Main said.
Recent economic analysis from the Gonski Institute of Education expects that improving the regional, rural and remote educational outcomes could add $56 billion to the nation's economy, noting that higher quality education impacts health, employment, and wages while reducing crime, teenage pregnancy and incarceration.
Moving forward, Associate Professor Main highlights that it isn’t the size of the school, it is the relationships the students have to it, and that is something the Murwillumbah township can foster.
“It’s about having the community come into the school and the school go out into the community.”
Lifespan of a School
Transcript
“Land is at a premium and also particularly in areas where the social demographic changes so they'll put a lot of primary schools into new areas where they're being built because you've got a lot of young families going in there. So as they have children, there's a need for primary schools and things. But then over the years, you know, once they've done that sort of 20 or 25 years cycle, some of those schools really start to die. I was talking to one of the teachers who was at Springwood High School, which is where my daughter went, when she was going there. She's 28, so ten years ago now. When she was there, it was 1400 students, now its 500 students. The demographic of the area has completely changed, so they've got this incredibly enormous land space there that's within 18 kilometres of the city. It's less than a 20 minute drive into the Brisbane CBD. And you've got two or three primary schools that are very close there as well, whose numbers are declining rapidly. Now, to me, if I'm looking at it from an economic perspective, I would say, well, why don't we extend the number of buildings on the high school site because there's certainly enough room to do that, amalgamate the high school and the primary schools, split those primary schools up into housing, and have a larger high school there. To me it's logical and I can see the reasoning behind what they've done, but I think the question now isn't isn't should they do it? The question is now how they do it.”
Part 4
Other Amalgamations in NSW
The NSW public school system is the largest in Australia and is currently undergoing experiments in school leadership and governance in regional secondary education through school consolidation.
The reorganisations in the schools are trialling many forms, examples including a new purpose-built school bringing two existing schools together, a refurbished school bringing together two schools on to an upgraded site, and the one school-two sites model.
Murwillumbah will be trialling a refurbished site, consolidating many existing schools, under a K-12 leadership structure.
Consolidation is to dissolve or reorganise one or more schools into one new unit and has a long history in the USA, where schools began merging as early as the 1930s under government encouragement to meet the increasing demand, and the ability to offer a comprehensive curriculum.
These historical arguments offer a persuasive reason to consolidate and continue to be used today, alongside the economical benefits claimed. However, there is limited evidence for the success of consolidated schools improving student outcomes.
The Murwillumbah developmental application is one of many amalgamation projects in New South Wales.
​“Since the merger we’ve lost about 200-250 students… parents are just thinking “you know what, this is an experiment I don’t want to be a part of”.”
In 2017, the NSW Department of Education, under Gladys Berijiklian and Education Minister Adrian Piccoli, merged Griffith and Wade High schools in rural NSW to create the Murrumbidgee Regional High School, operational from 2019.
Unlike other developments where all students were merged into one site, the Murrumbidgee High School operates from the two sites, despite them being kilometres apart, a model that has “created significant inefficiencies and duplications.”
A report completed by the University of New South Wales found that there is not an equivalent educational program across the two sites, that there is a low staff wellbeing, and the merger has caused reputational damage to public schooling in Griffith.
​
The report stated that the model should “not be used in further projects if the goal was to have a cohesive school culture” and made 14 recommendations to the Department of Education.
​
Major building works across the two sites cost the NSW Government more than $25 million, yet the school has struggled to attract and retain staff.
Anthony Catanzariti, a teacher at Murrumbidgee High School and the school’s NSW Teachers Federation representative, told ABC in 2021 that parents are withdrawing their children from the school amid concerns for the model and significant staffing shortages.
The Report backs this - “This is most evident in the declining transition of public primary school enrolments in Murrumbidgee Regional High School and the rise in enrolments for immediate competitor schools.”
Armidale Secondary College. Source Department of Education
Another merger occurred in rural New South Wales when the Armidale and Duval high schools combined in Armidale last year, the updated campus costing $121 million dollars.
At the time of opening, former Deputy Premier for NSW John Barilaro said he was looking forward to opening more similar schools across the state.
"Opening Armidale Secondary College today gives us a glimpse of the future of education for kids living in the bush,” Barilaro said.
However, the school is also facing challenges to launch after reports of teachers frustrated with the new campus after complaints of not yet having the adequate resources required.
​
In Ballina, there is also development underway to combine Ballina High with the high school of Southern Cross School. The decision to combine the high schools in Ballina is a result of Southern Cross School, a K-12 campus, having too many enrolments.
Approved in 2019, the community felt left out during the planning process and are worried about the lack of parking available to teachers and students.
New South Wales Department of Education - School Infrastructure
Add a title here. Make it bold and impactful. Click to edit.
NSW is currently in the midst of a $15 billion school building pipeline, formally named the School Assets Strategic Plan. It is the largest investment in public education infrastructure from the NSW Liberal Government and is part of its program to deliver 215 upgraded and new schools and create 32,000 student places across the state.
Beginning in 2017 under NSW Education minister Rob Stokes, the school pipeline was accompanied by the State Environmental Planning Policy on Educational Establishment and Childcare Facilities (SEPP). The SEPP policy "allowed more uses on school grounds without development consent, quicker approval for schools, and more capacity for preschools and childcare centres to be built on school sites."
​
It is projected that the student population will increase by 21% by 2031 in NSW, with the Sydney metropolitan area expecting over 80% of the increase.
As the most populist state and with the largest public education system, this plan is to accommodate growth in the state, and provide new, modern facilities.
46yrs
the average age of a NSW school
$775m
estimated cost of the backlog of maintenance required at NSW schools
40%
of school buildings were on their way to being classed as ‘poor condition’
Prior to the School Assets Strategic Plan (SASP), which was introduced in 2017, there was no management plan of existing school facilities beyond four years, instead using student enrolment forecasts to predict the demand on an individual school, informing the budget needed to look after said school.
The SASP aims to provide a maintenance plan for schools in NSW until 2031, aiming to provide flexibility for increasing student numbers, school expansions, and technological upgrades.
It is known that the quality of education within a country is a key driver in their economic growth, and there is a clear relationship between school facilities and education performance, making the SASP a necessary financial framework.
School consolidations and mergers can be seen by the government as a tool to increase efficiency and reduce spending, however studies have shown the community’s involvement plays a large part in whether that's true. Voluntary mergers have resulted in a 10% decline in expenditures, whereas forced consolidations, like Murwillumbah’s proposal, have failed to reduce spending across the board.
The implementation of mergers seems to have forged ahead with little community consultation in many towns. This brings to a head the important contrast of the small community school and the marching forth of the large multipurpose campus.
Murwillumbah represents, in many ways, the traditional rural lifestyle, with small schools where the teachers know all the students. Yet as one of the fastest growing areas in the Tweed Valley, which is also one of the fastest growing towns on the Gold Coast, we will soon outsize our infrastructure. Will it be possible for this community to hold on to their schools in the face of this mega change, or is this the cost of modernity and goals in the educational game?