The Maroondah Regeneration Project is a proposal for the redevelopment of government secondary schools in the Maroondah Local Government Area.

Parents of students at Croydon, Heathmont, Maroondah, Norwood, Parkwood and Ringwood Secondary Colleges and Croydon Community School were given details of the Maroondah Regeneration Project in forums held at the Karralyka Centre in the first two weeks of June.

At each forum, the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Director, Dr Jim Watterston, the Regional Network Leader, Mr Geoff Flett, and principals of the seven secondary schools described the context for the Maroondah Regeneration Project, initial details and some of the future steps to be taken.

The Context
The context for the Maroondah Regeneration Project is as follows:

• The seven schools have been working cooperatively for a number of years and the State Budget announcement of planning support for the regeneration project provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to provide better options for secondary school students in our schools into the future.
• The percentage of school aged children in the city of Maroondah as a proportion of the total population is declining and will continue to decline over the next twenty years. This was confirmed in two reports commissioned over the past five years by the local school network. These reports were provided by Dr Joanna Wynn of Melbourne University and Mr Greg Gibbs, an educational consultant.
• The State Government has in place the Building Futures Policy. The policy anticipates support for building projects being conditional on schools meeting a number of criteria, including being able to demonstrate how outcomes for students will be profoundly enhanced by particular proposals. In circumstances like ours, the Building Futures Policy encourages schools to cooperate in preparing submissions.
• Each school believes that it could offer better targeted and more effective programs if the various schools cooperated in new ways.

Detail
In the recent budget the State Government (May 2009) supported further planning for the refurbishment and rebuilding of the seven schools on five sites, with an allocation of $1 million.

Over 100 parents from the seven schools attended the three forums, mentioned at the beginning of this letter, each night. Audience members had the opportunity to raise questions and provide input into our thinking.

Five sites would be comprised of four mainstream schools, in the North, East, South and West of the City of Maroondah, complemented by an alternative setting Croydon Community School.

Specialist advice has been obtained from an expert firm of architects, Architectus, which have recommended how we could best achieve this objective:
• In the north, bring together Parkwood and Norwood Secondary Colleges on the Parkwood site in a refurbished and rebuilt school and new entity, MEC Norwood
• In the east, bring together Maroondah and Croydon Secondary Colleges on the Maroondah site in a rebuilt school and new entity, MEC Croydon.
• In the south and west, substantially redevelop Heathmont and Ringwood Secondary Colleges, MEC Heathmont and MEC Ringwood
• Redevelop Croydon Community School.

The Building Futures submission, when fully funded, anticipates an overall approximate cost of $75- $80 million dollars.

The project is intended to create a new way of thinking about secondary education in our area where schools share their resources to provide programs and opportunities that are far beyond the capabilities of any school acting on its own.

The Principals of Maroondah Education Coalition Schools believe that this proposal represents a once in a life time opportunity to reshape and rebuild state secondary education in Maroondah so that it best meets the needs of our young people well into the future and provide them with best possible education. They look forward to the project proceeding with further community support and involvement.