New report finds reputational damage caused by merger of schools

169
2
New report finds reputational damage caused by merger of schools

A new report has found that the merger of two public high schools in southern New South Wales has resulted in reputational damage and low staff wellbeing.

A University of New South Wales report has made 14 recommendations for the Department of EducationDepartment of Education after Griffith and Wade High Schools were merged to Murrumbidgee Regional High School in 2019.

Both campuses are located at Griffith, six hours west of Sydney, and the merger was despite them being kilometres apart.

The merger was first announced in 2017 and almost five years later the report found that there was still not an equivalent educational program across the two sites.

The report concluded that the model should not be used in further projects if the goal was to have a cohesive school culture.

It said it was difficult to make a full assessment of the school's success until 2024, when students who arrived in Year 7 would graduate.

The report said that the model of 'one school two sites' has created significant inefficiencies and duplication.

The Department of EducationDepartment of Education has defended merging the schools.

The department's Murat Dizdar said that it's a very strong development for our school community because of the one secondary education provision that's not competing with each other but supporting and working with each other.

Staff and parents have raised issues about the school merger, reporting low staff morale and cases of students changing schools.

Today's report found that considerable reputational damage had been caused to secondary education in Griffith.

The report said that the declining transition of primary school enrollments into Murrumbidgee Regional High School and the rise in enrollments for immediate competitor schools are some of the main reasons for this.

This requires significant attention and resourcing to address before it escalates further. Staff wellbeing was below national benchmarks despite work satisfaction increasing.

Mr Dizdar said the department could have been better at engaging the community leading up to the merger.

He said that we could have been better and stronger around the communication of the intent and directions of the model.

The report found that there were positive trends in student outcomes after the consolidation of schools was put in place to improve outcomes for students.

The growth data from 2021 NAPLAN was above state averages in reading and numeracy, indicating a positive trend for student outcomes, it said.