Plan to cram in classrooms to keep up with population

The plan estimates that adding extra buildings at existing schools would cost $1.5 billion to $3.3 billion, depending on how many relocatable classrooms the schools needed, and could save government up to $2.4 billion in construction and land costs for new schools by 2036.

At Coburg High School, the community knows all about making the most of the space it has. Principal Brent Houghton told The Age on Monday that if it were not for demountables, the school simply would not have coped with demand for enrolment, which had soared since its re-establishment in 2015.

“Coburg High has experienced significant enrolment growth over the past 10 years and without portables, there would have been nowhere for classes to go,” Houghton said.

“The portables are air-conditioned, we find they work well for our senior classes.

“At the same time, they’re a stopgap, and they can’t replace specialist facilities. We look forward to new media, food, fashion and STEM spaces as part of our technology building being ready in 2026.”

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Infrastructure Victoria also says that 900 new kindergartens will have to be built in the next 12 years, at a cost of $17 billion, to keep up with Victoria’s soaring demand for early childhood education places, which has been turbo-charged by the government’s free three- and four-year-old kinder programs.

The advisory body predicts that 138,000 new early childhood education places will be needed by 2036 – an almost 60 per cent increase on the existing supply – and that 900 new facilities would have to be added to the 4700 already operating.

The state government is building 50 new early education and childcare centres, but the infrastructure authority says up to $11 billion more in public investment might be needed to meet future demand, particularly in poorer areas of the state that struggle to attract for-profit childcare operators.

That investment would be required in addition to about $6 billion in expected private sector spending.

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Kindergarten demand will be most acute in Melbourne’s sprawling growth corridors. Facilities will be needed to accommodate 20,000 new kinder places in the Wyndham and Melton-Bacchus Marsh areas.

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