River Gum Primary School students and parents are upset that the school’s kinder prep program has been shut down. Front: Brigid and Amber O’Donnell, and, back from left, Suzie Cairns, Kathy and Hayley Hymas, Sheryl Stokes, Natalie Reeve and Riley McNeill. Picture: Meagan Rogers.
By Sarah Schwager
PARENTS are outraged that a program for prep-aged students at a Hampton Park school has been shut down, and they are prepared to fight it all the way.
The highly successful ‘kinder prep’ program has been run at River Gum Primary School for the past 10 years.
The program, which holds 15 kids, was aimed at those children who were not quite ready to start school but were too old for kindergarten, such as those who couldn’t speak English, young children or those with learning difficulties.
It effectively gave those children eight years of primary school rather than seven.
The program had been lauded by local kindergartens and other schools.
However, according to River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith, who was school president at the time the program was introduced, it had been flying under the radar of the Department of Education for some time.
“At the time, it was started because we identified a need for an extra year of primary school for some children but it was not funded by the department,” Cr Smith said. “So we found the funding ourselves.”
He said he was amazed the program had lasted so long as each year the school had to fund it.
“It’s been in danger every year. It’s a shame it’s going though, it’s been so successful.”
Sheryl Stokes’ four-year-old granddaughter Mikaylah, of whom Ms Stokes is guardian, was enrolled to start the kinder prep program next year.
“I was looking at the long term not the short term. She won’t be five until the end of April. I’m worried about socially when she’s older,” Ms Stokes said.
“It just seems so rude to shut it down at the last moment when they already had enrolments.”
Ms Stokes has started a petition and has collected a couple of hundred signatures in the past few days, aimed at getting the program running again.
River Gum Primary School acting principal Joan Johnston said her understanding was that the school was directed not to continue the program during a recent departmental review.
“For those children clearly not ready to move on from the first year of school they are invited to do a second year of prep,” she said.
“But we can’t have a program that says you will be here for eight years.
“I am not saying that the program is not a good idea, but as the acting principal I have to follow the directions I am given.
“It is not that we are not prepared to cater for them – we are. If they are clearly not coping they can have another year.”
Another parent at the school, Natalie Reeve, said her son had benefited enormously from the kinder prep program this year.
He will go on to prep with his friends next year.
“If he hadn’t done it he’d be repeating prep,” Ms Reeve said.
“It gave him time to catch up on certain skills like reading, learning and social skills.
“I don’t think they would benefit from repeating prep because all their friends would move to grade one.
“And there are only 15 kids in the class so they get more one-on-one time with the teacher. They don’t feel any different and they get an extra year to catch up rather than hating school.”
A Department of Education and Early Childhood Development spokeswoman said primary school education was delivered over seven years in Victoria.
“Schools should not offer classes for preps on the basis that they will run for two years,” she said.
“As a result, River Gum Primary School will no longer be offering this additional year.
“Kindergarten programs are available throughout the municipality and parents can contact the local council for information about available places.
“Any parents at River Gum Primary School who feel their child is not ready to progress to grade one can make arrangements for their child to repeat a year.”
