Orbost school students will be the beneficiary of a $7 million State Government Budget windfall.
The town will be home to a P-12 (prep to year 12) college on the current site of Orbost Secondary College in coming years after the government last week announced a $7.27 upgrade as part of its budget last Thursday.
The P-12 college will see the merger of Orbost and Orbost North primary schools with the secondary college, which the government says will provide greater opportunities for current and future students to learn in first-rate classrooms.
“The new school set up is the result of years of work between three school communities,” a government spokesperson said.
Over recent years a working party of representatives across each of the schools has been exploring all options for delivering education in the community that meets the needs of students.
The working party has met regularly to discuss these options and to liaise with the Department of Education and Training on what may be needed to ensure that the best possible educational opportunities are available to all students in the Orbost area, with key focus on:
*    Developing an educational facility that provides for all students and families in the community;
*    Improving the quality and consistency of teaching and wellbeing practices, and boosting the ability to attract and retain quality staff; and
*    Improving the schools’ ability to provide a guaranteed and viable curriculum across a range of areas. Orbost Secondary College principal, Peter Seal, said changes to the population and demographics in the Orbost district meant that schools need to be proactive in responding to the educational needs of the children.
“Our three schools worked together for many years on developing a consistent approach to our teaching and wellbeing practices,” he said.
“This fantastic news will help us move towards the development of a first-class school that is able to best cater for the individual needs of our students.”
The working party consists of principals and school council representatives across each school.
The working party will come together to support a clear timeline of activities, including the opening of the new P-12.
“We have been having these conversations in our community for many years,” Orbost North Primary School principal, Jo Dacy-Broome, said.
“It’s exciting for our school council to be involved in the exploration of educational options with the focus on achieving better outcomes for our children.”
Orbost Primary School, school councillor, Matt Jenkins, said the idea of changes to the education in Orbost is not new.
“There has been talk for many years about what education in the Orbost district should look like in the future,” he said.
“Orbost Primary, Orbost North Primary and the secondary college school councils came together to look at the future of education for the Orbost area. Coming together on one site, will allow all three school communities to work toward building a new educational facility and school that is appropriate for the future education for the children in the Orbost District.”

IMAGE: School council representative from Orbost Primary School, Lee-Anne Robinson, Orbost Secondary College principal, Peter Seal, and Orbost North Primary School principal, Jo Dacy-Broome, discuss the $7.27 million funding announcement for the P-12 college on site at Orbost Secondary College last Friday.