Tim Sharkey’s sons Felix and Basil will now be attending Collingwood College. 75575 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Charlene Gatt
NEARLY 100 former Footscray City Primary School students are gearing up for a fresh start at a new school in the aftermath of the Steiner stream being axed from their school’s curriculum late last year.
Former school council president Tim Sharkey, whose sons Felix and Basil attended the school under the Steiner stream, told Star last week the shock announcement had caused widespread disruption and heartache among families.
Out of the 130 Steiner students that attended Footscray City Primary School last year, about 25 have graduated and will start high school this year.
Mr Sharkey said about 90 per cent of the remaining students – his sons included – were accepted by Collingwood College, while the rest either stayed at Footscray City Primary School under the mainstream program or enrolled at other nearby schools.
At least one of the teachers is also going over to Collingwood College, which has had to put on extra classes to accommodate those kids.
“Collingwood was under a fair amount of pressure and it wasn’t until the last week of the school year that we were able to confirm that they could take everyone,” Mr Sharkey said.
Parents have organised a private bus to take the students to and from school, while car pooling arrangements have also been made among families.
“The crazy situation is that they’re going to be driving past a near-empty school that they used to go to, because there will only be about 190 kids left at Footscray City,” Mr Sharkey said.
“It is going to be a change for a lot of kids from going to their local school to now having to travel some distance to go to school.”
The Ombudsman is investigating the axing of the Steiner stream.
