By CASEY NEILL
CORNISH College last week welcomed its first Year 11 students, just three years after it almost closed its classrooms for good.
St Leonards College in Brighton East established the Bangholme campus but moved to shut it in 2011.
“Independent school fees were rising at a rate that priced the school out of the market in this area,” principal Kerry Bolger said.
“There were times then when we wondered whether the dream of keeping the school alive was going to eventuate.”
But parents, teachers and the Uniting Church stepped in to purchase the property and establish the low-fee college.
During its St Leonards days, Bangholme students had to move to Brighton East for their VCE.
Seventeen students will start an innovative Year 11 program this year.
“I think that’s been a really important development in terms of the school’s growth,” Mr Bolger said.
“We’ve spent a good part of the last two years working on a careers program with them, looking at what their aptitudes and their passions and interests really are to determine the sort of pathways they’re going to be well-suited to.”
From there the college worked out what subjects to offer – and how.
“We’re looking at doing things differently,” he said.
“When you’ve got a new school you don’t have that class tradition.”
Students will learn online through distance education and off-site through TAFE programs as well as through the traditional classroom set-up.
“We think that that’s the future,” Mr Bolger said.
“It really is about creative timetabling and opening up possibilities for kids.
“We’ve felt for a long time that there are more creative ways to do senior education.
“There’s so much material now that’s available online.
“Schools have actually got to be really seriously considering the way we work in a contemporary society.”
Mr Bolger said the approach would better prepare students for tertiary study.
“When they go to uni, there’s not someone standing over their shoulder,” he said.
Cornish College started with 470 students this year, up from 219 in 2012.
“We would anticipate next year that we’ll have close to 580 students,” Mr Bolger said.
“In a three-year period the response from the local community has been mind-blowing.
“We’ve now got waiting lists at many levels in the school.
“To be part of a growing school is really exciting,” he said.
