The state government has no plans to build a new high school in Maitland’s west.
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There have been calls for a new school to be built in one of the region’s western suburbs to cater for forecast population growth in Anambah, Aberglasslyn and Lochinvar.
But Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said during a visit to Maitland yesterday that the Department of Education had not identified a need for a new school in the electorate.
“The issue always is about building a school, a high school particularly, before there is sufficient demand, it can potentially take away from existing high schools,” he said.
“So you don’t want to reduce subject choices in the HSC for students by essentially dividing students across too many schools.
“We want to have a critical mass of students in each high school, because by doing that you maximise the subject choice in those schools.”
Mr Piccoli said the department’s planning section monitored demographic changes across the state, particularly in growth areas such as the Hunter.
“The government has a legal requirement to provide public education,” he said.
“We’ve built 18 [new schools] since we’ve been in government.
“Where the demographics require a new school to be built, new schools will get built.”
Labor candidate for Maitland Jenny Aitchison said she was not surprised that the government did not recognise a need for a new high school in the region.
“We were told last year through a question on notice in Parliament that the government had no intention of building a new school in the next two years,” she said.
“I see a need for a new high school and I will be fighting for that school with the backing of a political party if I am elected.”
The Mercury reported last week that developer Hardie Holdings had an 18-hectare site in Anambah that it wanted to sell to the government for a new school.
But Hardie Holdings has not yet approached the Department of Education.