First school on hit list is revealed

How the State Government draws up its school hit list. Source: The Courier-Mail

THE first school on the Newman Government's ``hit list'' has been revealed, with a proposal to turn Coorparoo Secondary College into a campus of Brisbane State High School.

The controversial school closure and amalgamation list is expected to be finalised within a fortnight.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek told State Parliament on Tuesday night the school closure list would have ``a lot less'' than the 55 schools his department proposed last year.

The Courier-Mail understands the number of closures will be less than a dozen.

The Education Minister yesterday said there would be at least six months' consultation before any school was closed and that all principals and teachers would remain with Education Queensland.

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But he is hoping to reach a conclusion on the Coorparoo Secondary College (CSC) proposal by the end of next month, with any takeover planned for next year.

Mr Langbroek said the CSC proposal, to be announced today, was about future-proofing the flagship Brisbane State High School (BSHS) while guaranteeing quality education in the area.

BSHS has almost 2400 students - despite only having capacity for about 2150 - and that's before Year 7 joins in 2015. CSC has about 337 Year 8 to 12 students and is about 4km from BSHS.

A ministerial brief published by The Courier-Mail last year warned BSHS might have to stop accepting students on merit entry because of its growing enrolments from within the catchment.

Under the new plan, Mr Langbroek said all CSC students would be offered the opportunity to enrol in BSHS. ``There is no doubt that Brisbane State High is bursting at the seams and risks losing its capacity to accept selected entry students,'' he said.

``For some time, there have been discussions about how to accommodate future growth. ``I've had three options presented to me as possible sites for a second campus - Yeronga State High School, Balmoral State High School and Coorparoo Secondary College.''

A similar proposal was made to former education minister Cameron Dick but he did not sign off on a decision before the election was called.

Mr Langbroek said after considering the location, catchment areas and excess capacity of the proposed alternative sites, CSC was the preferred option and it was a win-win for the community.

``If the community agrees with the proposal, there are a range of possible scenarios for the new Brisbane State High and all of these options will be considered,'' he said.

``We now have to go and listen to both school communities and evaluate any concerns.'' Mr Langbroek said

Queensland needed 100 new schools over the next 10 years and he was committed to finding ways of providing students with state-of-the-art facilities.

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