A CALL for a secondary school in Port Fairy has reignited as a council plan considers what the town could look like in the next 20 years.
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Moyne Shire Council received "a number of submissions" raising the need for a secondary school in the town as part of a plan aiming to rezone land for up to 750 new lots.
But while some point out that surrounding towns like Hakwesdale, Heywood and Mortlake offer P-12 schools, an educator says there's a trend towards secondary schooling in bigger centres.
Port Fairy property and building consultant Michael Hearn said the town would benefit from offering secondary schooling as the region's population grew. He pointed out the Warrnambool population was tipped to increase by 10,000 in the next 16 years.
"If you've got those sorts of numbers going into Warrnambool do those schools get bigger? At what point do you look at areas close by?," he said.
Mr Hearn said his four children had attended secondary schools in Warrnambool and they "made the comment they would have loved to remain and go to school here".
"The highway is extremely busy with traffic, it would get school traffic off the road. The case to build a school here would be highly credentialed," Mr Hearn said.
The idea is not a new one with The Standard recording a call from Belfast Council for a secondary school in the town in 1975.
But Port Fairy Consolidated School principal Kath Tanner said many parents now favoured regional centres for secondary school education.
"There's a perception those bigger schools will have more to offer in terms of curriculum choice and grounds," Ms Tanner said.
"What we are seeing rurally and regionally is in towns that have secondary campuses families are choosing to send them to bigger centres, although the philosophy of being able to educate children locally is sound.
"I think there are a lot of people who retire into Port Fairy. I don't know if the numbers would make a secondary school viable here."
She said the primary school could manage an increase in enrolments if Port Fairy's population was to grow.
A spokeswoman for Victoria's Department of Education and Training said based on the current population growth rate and "excess capacity" in surrounding schools, there were "no plans for a new secondary school in Port Fairy".
"The department will continue to review projected population data and the location of future schools as part of its state-wide planning for schools," she said.
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