Education shake-up

Catholic revamp joins Year 12 move

THREE colleges in Hobart will be extended to Years 11 and 12 and a new school built in the Sorell region as part of a major shake-up of Catholic education.

Key among the changes announced by Catholic Archbishop Reverend Julian Porteous is MacKillop Catholic College at Mornington, St Aloysius College at Huntingfield and St Virgil’s College at Austins Ferry expanding campuses to include students in Years 11 and 12.

CATHOLIC schools in southern Tasmania are set for their biggest shake-up in more than 20 years with three schools to start teaching Year 11 and 12.

In addition, a new Catholic school has been flagged for the Sorell region to cater for greater demand.

Yesterday, Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous announced that MacKillop Catholic College at Mornington, St Aloysius Catholic College at Huntingfield and St Virgil’s College at Austins Ferry could begin teaching Year 11 and 12 students from 2021.

“The last review happened about 20 years ago,” he said.

“Guilford Young College has done a very good job of providing a whole array of subjects. But as numbers have increased and population centres have grown, in particular the Kingston area, there’s obviously a need to reassess.”

Archbishop Porteous said the State Government’s decision to extend 38 state schools to Year 12 to help improve retention, plus the fact many students had to travel great distances to attend Guilford Young College, prompted a new independent review.

One of the big changes will be at St Virgil’s College where it’s proposed the school will enrol kindergarten to Year 4 at its Hobart campus and then have Year 5-12 at its Austins Ferry campus. Currently, St Virgil’s has Years 3-6 at its Hobart campus and Years 7-10 at Austins Ferry.

“I think the general view is there is value for students staying within the same school right through to Year 12 because you build up a certain spirit at a school and a sense of belonging,” he said.

“A business case for each of these ideas will be developed and we will be asking parents for their preferences and that will give us a clear indication of levels of support.”

Eastern Shore families will be the biggest winners under the proposed changes, with a new school in the Sorell region earmarked.

“We did a lot of research and that was one of the standouts — that the Sorell area is going to keep growing,” Archbishop Porteous said.

He believed there would be widespread support for the changes but said there would be a long consultation period.