The merger of two public high schools in southern New South Wales has caused reputational damage and low staff well-being, according to a new report.
Key points:
- Two Griffith High Schools merged in 2019 to create Murrumbidgee Regional High
- A new report has found that the merger has damaged the reputation of Griffith Public School
- The Department of Education advocates the merger, but will take on the report’s recommendations
A report from the University of New South Wales has made 14 recommendations to the Department of Education after Griffith and Wade High Schools merged to form Murrumbidgee Regional High School in 2019.
The two campuses are located in Griffith, six hours west of Sydney, and the merger took place despite being miles away.
The merger was first announced in 2017 and almost five years later, the report found that there was still no equivalent educational program at the two sites.
The report concluded that the model should not be used in later projects if the goal was to have a cohesive school culture.
“With minimal interaction between staff and students, it is difficult to build a unique cohesive and robust school identity,” the report says.
However, he also said it was difficult to make a full assessment of the school’s success until 2024, when students who reached 7th grade will graduate.
“That said, the“ one school – two sites ”model has created significant inefficiencies and duplications,” the report said.
The Department of Education is accepting all the recommendations in the report. (ABC Riverina: Romy Stephens)
The Department of Education has advocated merging schools.
“Having a public secondary education offering that does not compete with each other, but is supported and worked on between them, is a very strong development for our school community,” said Murat Dizdar of the Department.
Damage to reputation
Staff and parents have previously raised concerns about the school merger, reporting staff drop morale and cases of students changing schools.
Today’s report found that “considerable damage to reputation” had been caused to secondary education in Griffith.
“This is most evident in the declining transition from public primary enrollments to Murrumbidgee Regional Secondary School and the increase in enrollments for immediate competitor schools,” the report says.
“This requires significant attention and resources to address before it heats up more.”
Low staff morale
The Murrumbidgee Regional High Learning Resource Center was built as part of a $ 25 million expense. (Provided by: NSW School Infrastructure)
He also found that staff well-being was below national benchmarks, although job satisfaction increased.
Dizdar said the department “could have been better off” for involving the community that led to the merger.
“We could have been better and stronger around communicating the intent and directions of the model,” he said.
“We accept all of these recommendations.”
School consolidation was set in motion to improve student outcomes, and the report found that there were some positive trends in student outcomes.
“NAPLAN’s 7-9 2021 growth data were equal to or higher than state averages in reading and arithmetic, indicating a positive trend for student outcomes,” he said.