All options considered for growth of teaching sites
By NICOLE FERRIE
PLANS are afoot to provide catholic education to children living at Maiden Gully. The Catholic Education Office is presently looking at two Maiden Gully sites and plans to purchase land in the near future. The CEO’s chief executive Dennis Higgins this week said with the closest catholic primary schools for people living in Maiden Gully being St Peter’s at North Bendigo or St Monica’s at Kangaroo Flat, it was a “major priority in providing catholic education in Bendigo” to establish a new school. “The actual provisions are up for discussion but we will provide catholic education of some sort at Maiden Gully,” he said. “We are contemplating a primary site and adding a secondary to it.” Mr Higgins said Catholic College Bendigo was presently faced with the challenge of trying to house the number of students moving from the year 7 to 9 Junortoun campus to the Year 10 to 12 senior campus in Barkly Street. “If retention rates are high, which ours are, you’ve got problems with the site in the transition,” he said. “In the past there were large number of kids going from Year 10 to Bendigo Senior Secondary College, but that’s no longer the case.” Catholic College is co-owned by the Catholic Education Office, the Marist Brothers and Sisters of Mercy. It is believed the school is considering a future third site but does not want to comment at this stage about the plan. Mr Higgins said all options for the expansion of catholic education were being considered.
