Year 12s of a Surf Coast government school won’t be supported in celebrating with a formal, it has been revealed.
In email communication from Surf Coast Secondary College’s Compass portal, seen by the Geelong Advertiser, parents and carers of the cohort were informed that the school would not be “supporting” a senior school formal this year.
The message was shared to the Surf Coast community Facebook page and has since gone viral.
In the correspondence, school officials said the decision was made due to changes in the Department of Education’s “expectations on working conditions” for teachers that had placed “extra pressure” on staffing the event.
“Previous numbers attending the event had also driven the cost up considerably over the past few years,” the message said.
Surf Coast Secondary College hosted its 2021 graduation dinner at The Pier. Picture: Tessa Mapstone / South Burnett Times
The school would not comment directly to the Geelong Advertiser on the issue, and referred questions to the department.
The message to parents said the school had been in the discussion with the Surf Coast Shire Council about the possibility of it hosting an “all ages event that could be supported by the local police”
“… and if any students wish to form part of a committee on this, we can put them in contact with the Shire’s youth team,” the message read.
“The senior school student leaders are currently working in this space.”
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The Victorian Government Schools Agreement (VGSGA) 2022 set out time in lieu arrangements for teachers for work in excess of their 38-hour week, which would include supervising a formal.
A Department of Education spokesperson said: “The Department has provided clear guidance to schools on the implementation of the new time-in-lieu arrangements, including for out-of-school hours activities such as formals, and expects such events to continue.”
It’s understand the department is providing schools support to develop strategies to provide teachers with time in lieu within existing budget restrictions, aimed at being cost-neutral and not requiring the cancellation of events like formals.
The 2023 cohort of year 12s have had multiple Covid-19 interrupted learning years, including years 9 and 10 in 2020 and 2021 respectively moving in and out of lockdown.
One boy, who claimed to be a year 12 student at the school, wrote on social media that it was “pretty disappointing” to not get a formal.
“Our whole year level has had two camps cancelled due to Covid-19 and other excursions that we didn’t end up going on. And the one thing we all look forward to won’t even be going ahead,” he said.
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