Point Cook residents are being urged to write to state Education Minister James Merlino to highlight the need for new prep-year 9 and years 10-12 schools in the suburb.
The Point Cook Action Group is asking residents to make a case for funding for the new schools to be included in next month’s state budget, saying the area has waited long enough.
Group president Tony Hooper said there was a need for a P-9 school in the Saltwater Coast estate.
He said children living in the estate and in nearby Sanctuary Lakes were being zoned to Altona Green Primary School, which is almost 10 kilometres away.
“They pass other schools on Point Cook Road on their way to Altona Green – it doesn’t make sense.
“There’s a desperate need for a school in that area of Point Cook.”
The action group would also like to see a second senior secondary school built in Point Cook amid concerns that Point Cook Senior Secondary College will be unable to cope with future demand.
The group has previously launched a petition asking the state government to set aside land for a new senior school. It hopes land might be set aside in the new Lincoln Heath South precinct structure plan.
“We need to start planning for the school and get action happening,” Mr Hooper said. “We don’t know how long the school will take to build. I know developing a suburb takes time, but we don’t have the luxury of long-term planning in Point Cook.
“I would encourage people to write and put pressure on the government to make announcements in the budget.”
Prior to the election in November last year, Labor pledged to build a second senior secondary college in Point Cook as part of an $87 million plan to buy land and construct schools in eight growth areas and three inner-city suburbs. But the government has not said when the school will be built.
