Save our school: Students at ACE Secondary College attached banners, fabric and messages to the front gates of their school on Friday.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“I hope this school stays open forever.”
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The banner, written by a Year 8 student, stretched across the front gate of Shepparton’s ACE Secondary College on Friday, June 17, among hundreds of other banners and ribbons tied to the front fence.
The messages were written by students ahead of an expected vote on the future of a four-storey social housing development in the car park next door, on the corner of Nixon and Maude Sts, Shepparton, which the school officials says will force it to move.
ACE principal Bronwyn Rose said the school was trying to make ribbons and banners as visible as possible after “we’ve been overlooked for 12 months” in the development proposal.
Having their say: Sienna Sutcliffe, Lily Smith and Elijah Hopson out the front of ACE Secondary College.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“We have to constantly say we’re here and schools are different to other businesses,” she said.
ACE caters to students who have challenging backgrounds or are not suited to mainstream schooling.
The school has argued the four-storey development next to the school would severely impact students’ privacy and security, shade the school’s limited recreation area and remove access to its back gate.
“I just want people to know we’re here,’’ Ms Rose said.
“We haven’t given up fighting and we will keep on no matter what happens, because these young people are important to us.’’
Ms Rose knocked back suggestions students should not be taking part in the protests.
Voices heard: Year 10 student Jennah McMahon under scraps of fabric out the front of the school.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“It’s an odd thing to ask when they’re the people most impacted,” she said.
“Teaching students civics and citizenship is a very important thing.
“They’ve been writing submissions and taking action, they’re proud.
“They had the perfect project, learning about activism and speaking up for people.”
She said the school had never pushed students into activism and students had always engaged on their own terms.
Year 10 student Jennah McMahon felt the proposed development was a “bad idea”.
Friends of the school: One of the banners out the front of ACE Secondary College on Friday.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“I think if the building was to happen, while all the staff that we have here wouldn’t have any jobs, and the students wouldn’t really have a place to go I guess,” she said.
“I want to raise as much awareness as I can for this school.
“Literally everyone else does.”
Greater Shepparton City Council is expected to put the proposal to a vote on Tuesday afternoon.
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