Fury at new school zone
SIX months before it’s due to open, zoning for a new state school in Townsville’s northern suburbs is causing a stir.
The school being built at Burdell is due to take on its first students next year, but new zone mapping shows some parts of the suburb won’t be in its catchment. Families who assumed they would be in the school’s catchment area are instead in the Bohlevale State School zone, which has more than 850 students.
One Burdell resident, who asked to be known only as Amy, told the Bulletin she would have enrolled her 4year- old son in a private school if she had known the new state school wasn’t an option.
“We were just expecting to be in the catchment,” she said. EXERCISE does wonders for many but leaves others cold.
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“On my street there’s one house that falls into the zone.
“I was really excited about the school, I wanted to be on committees and the P & C.
“I was really angry when I found out about the zoning.”
Another parent said they had hoped to access the school because of new facilities and smaller enrolment numbers.
Burdell resident Sandra De Cat said her family was one street off being in the catchment for the new school. how calming, energising or fun people find exercise.
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“I’m not that upset but I’m just surprised,” she said.
“If the school is in Burdell, why aren’t homes in that suburb included?”
Ms De Cat said she would still consider putting her children Hunter, 3, and Hannah, 18 months, on a waiting list to attend the new school.
A Department of Education and Training spokeswoman said the catchment boundaries for the new school in Burdell and the Bohlevale State School were calculated using equal distance principles and included consideration of future road networks.
“The North Queensland acting regional infrastructure manager, regional director and principals of both schools were consulted,” she said.
“The Education ( General Provisions) Act 2006 ( Qld) states that catchment area, ‘ for a state school, means the geographical area decided by the chief executive from which the school is to have its principal intake of students’.
“The new catchment boundaries for 2018 went live August 21, 2017, including reviewed catchment boundaries for the new school at Burdell and Bohlevale State School.”
Stage 1 of the new primary school is nearing completion, with about 200 students expected to start in 2018.
Townsville councillor Paul Jacob said he believed the catchment boundary was fair. THE annual Sundalah Sundayd event tomorrow is expected to draw a health- conscious crowd for yoga classes, health workshops and markets.
Organiser Jasmine HealyPagan said the event would double in size this year with extra classes and markets.
“There will be more than 30 health and happiness classes,” Ms Healy- Pagan said.
“They incorporate yoga, the arts, inspirational talks and cooking workshops.
“Yoga not only has a number of health benefits, it also deepens our sense of self by inviting us to step out of our busy lives and take a personal journey inward.”
All profits from Sundalah Sunday events go to the local not- for- profit organisation Yoga Tools for Schools.
Participants are asked to bring water, a towel and their own yoga mat. The event will be held from 8.30am to 4.30pm at Castle Hill PCYC.
It costs $ 25 for adults and $ 10 for school students prepaid online, or $ 30 for adults and $ 15 school students on the day.
A single class pass will cost $ 15 on the day.
Tickets can be bought sundalah. com. au/ tickets at