The move by the Education Department will force kindergarten and pre-primary aged students to attend Success as a Hammond Park student, before re-locating them to a new school in Hammond Park once it is built – even if they have siblings at Success Primary School.
Parents say the move will throw up a host of problems, including separating siblings, forcing parents to make trips to two schools and forcing parents to purchase two sets of school uniforms, which students will wear until they move to the new school.
Established students are not keen on the move and neither are parents.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW‘My girls don’t want to move, but they don’t want to be away from their brother either,’ said parent Suzanne Ivandich.
‘I’m going to have to start all over again, plus my son will lose all his friends when they eventually force him to move and he’s not going to be with his sisters. ‘
Cockburn MLA Fran Logan said the move was a poor way of handling enrolments for the new Hammond Park Primary School.
‘The growth of the suburb has been well known for the last eight years and the department has had plenty of time to begin the process of building the school,’ he said.
Margaret Collins, executive director for the south metropolitan education area, said the Hammond Park school would open on the first day of the 2014 school year.
‘All children from the Hammond Park area who are due to start kindergarten and pre-primary in 2014 will be required to enrol in and attend the new primary school next year,’ she said.
‘Like all schools, Success Primary School must prioritise school places for those students who live in the local area, in line with the department’s long-standing enrolment policy.’