A community survey of householders in Chifley shows the Stanhope government’s figures of projected future enrolments at Melrose Primary School are wrong and the school has a viable future.

The Government’s Towards 2020 plan projects only 55 student enrolments for the year 2010 compared to a recent community survey which indicates an intended enrolment of 93 students in that year.  That’s a discrepancy of 69 percent.

Even the figures for 2006 were wrong. The ACT Department of Education and Training project enrolments 2006 – 2010, July 2005 projected an enrolment of just 65 students in 2006, when the actual enrolment for this year was 26 percent higher with 82 students.

Looking further into the future, the projected enrolments increase to 184 students in 2015, exceeding the current capacity of the school.(see table below) 

“These figures show that Melrose Primary School has a viable and bright future,” spokesperson for the Chifley Action Group, Louise Evans said.

“We understand the government has to make tough decisions, but those decisions must be  based on accurate data.”

A door to door survey of households in the Melrose Primary School Priority Enrolment Area was conducted by concerned parents in August 2006.  It revealed strong and growing interest in the local pre-school, primary school and YMCA facilities.

The community survey figures follow ABS data earlier this year which revealed that Chifley has one of the highest rates of growth of pre-school age children in Canberra. (Population Estimates by Age and Sex, Australia by Geographic Classification (3235.0.55.001) issued 30 June, 2006.

Another recent ABS publication (Births, Australia 2005 (33010), issued 17 October, 2006) shows births and fertility rates in Chifley are growing rapidly and the fertility rate is one of the highest in Canberra, in contrast to most other parts of the Woden Valley.  

“Not only will the numbers of students continue to grow, within seven years the school will be beyond capacity.  The Melrose school community has also proposed several options which would result in the school reaching capacity sooner.

“It would then be very short sighted to close Melrose Primary, when conservative estimates show it has a long life ahead of it,” Louise Evans said.