Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training, 24 November 2020
Increasing co-educational options for Hobart
Ogilvie High School and New Town High School will become co-educational in 2022 as part of the next phase of the Hobart City Partner Schools’ collaboration with Elizabeth College.
The Tasmanian Government has agreed with the joint recommendation brought forward by the School Associations of each school, which will increase education options for students in Hobart.
It will also provide Hobart families with a co-educational option to ensure the diverse needs of learners are met.
To assist with the transition, we are investing $150,000 in the 2020-21 State Budget for the development of an educational and infrastructure masterplan to support the continued collaboration between the Hobart City Partner Schools.
It follows extensive consultation with the community, which found that there is a need and strong support for more co-educational opportunities in Hobart and the preference is to use existing infrastructure.
The Government’s decision is supported by research and evidence including the scenario testing undertaken in 2017-18 to determine the feasibility of building a new inner-city high school in Hobart and the recent community survey conducted by the Partner Schools.
The Aurecon Scenario Testing found that:
- There is ample capacity across the schools in Hobart, but that the distribution is uneven;
- Building a new inner-city high school may result in drawing students away from schools that currently have capacity; and
- Building a new school would not resolve enrolment pressures at Taroona High School.
The Partner Schools will now work with their combined school association reference group to develop preferred models, which they will then take to their community in early 2021 to prepare for implementation in 2022.
I would like to thank the principals, schools’ staff and students, the school associations and the wider Hobart community for arriving at this approach for the benefit of all learners.
The full report is available to the public on the Department’s website it includes the findings of the Aurecon Feasibility Study and the Hobart City Partner Schools Survey results.
It is great that we can now move forward, building upon the voice of the schools and community, to provide greater surety in relation to inner city educational provision in Hobart.
Media release – Josh Willie MLC, Shadow Minister for Education, 24 November 2020
Labor welcomes co-ed high school options
Labor has welcomed the decision for Ogilvie High School and New Town High School to transition to co-education in 2022.
The School Association of each school and the wider schools community are to be commended for their leadership and the hard work that’s gone into achieving this outcome.
Hobart is the only capital city in Australia that does not have a central co-ed public high school so the decision to convert Ogilvie and New Town from single-sex to co-educational is a significant one.
Labor Shadow Education Minister Josh Willie said the change will offer a greatly improved choice for local families.
“These are two very important schools servicing the inner and middle ring suburbs of Hobart as well as parts of the northern suburbs,” Mr Willie said.
“The fact that they’ve been single-sex has meant parents wanting to send their children to a co-ed public school have to travel further afield to Taroona High School or beyond.
“This has caused families inconvenience, disruption and cost and the wider community has also felt the impact of additional commuter traffic.
“It will be a significant benefit for families and the student population of these areas to be able to access a co-educational school much closer to home.
“Labor welcomes the extensive consultation and development process undertaken with school principals, staff, students and school associations to prepare for the transition to co-education in 2022.”
