Albert Park College is a public, co-educationalhigh school located in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. In 2018, the school had 1036 enrolments and 79 teaching staff. Construction of the new school was completed in late 2010 and it opened in February 2011. The school opened with Year 7 and grew past full capacity over the next 10 years, including general and SEAL enrolments. The curriculum includes Arts and Culture, Science and Exploration and Student Leadership.
History
The new school is built on the site of the previous Albert Park College in Danks Street which closed at the end of 2006 due to a dramatic decline in enrolments. Originally opened as South Melbourne High School then renamed Albert Park High School, it was renamed again as Hobson's Bay Secondary College, and then Albert Park Secondary College before closing in 2006. In 2002 the State Government spent $1 million on renovations to fix leaking walls and rotting carpet, local MP John Thwaites saying the decay was caused by eight years of neglect by the former Kennett government. In the five years to 2005 student numbers had fallen from 460 to 242, by 2006 they had fallen further to 206 with only 15 students enrolled to start year 7 the next year. Meanwhile, the suburb had gentrified during the past two decades, but local residents chose not to send their children to the school because of the poor reputation and low academic results. The buildings were demolished between May and November 2008. Soil contamination delayed construction of the new buildings, which was originally planned to reopen in 2009. After delays in construction, a new purpose-built school was opened for Year 7 students in 2011, with contemporary architecture designed by Woods Bagot, and expanded to house 1200+ students from years 7 to 12, costing $20 million to build.
Controversy
At least one student has been bullied to the extent of choosing to leave the school. Monique Mastrobattista, included in the 2016 intake of Year 7 students, was frequently excluded from social environments at the school, stating that her "Year 7 co-ordinator was supportive, but things weren’t getting better." After being badly bruised in a fall down the concrete staircase of the school, other students photographed her bruises and started "screenshotting photos and making private group chats and spreading them around, they were laughing about how I fell and looked." She later penned and published a book on her experience, titled My Discreet Bully. Her mother noted that parents at the school "often focus on encouraging school marks rather than making sure their children are good people." She has since become an activist for cyberbullying, appearing on television amongst other activities. Construction of a dedicated campus for the school's Year 9 students began in 2015 with the intent of beginning classes at the start of 2016. However, due to significant issues with funding, and "unanticipated heritage and site contamination issues" opening was initially delayed to the start of term 2, before being again delayed to the start of the second semester due to a lack of funds, despite a $8.5 million budget from the state government. For the first semester, while the campus was continually delayed, Year 9 students were educated out of a variety of community owned locations, including but not limited to, a church hall, a lifesaving club, and a renovated gatehouse on a pier, with upwards of fifty minutes spent walking between spaces on some days. NAPLAN results from that year indicate that Year 9 students performed at or below average for schools with similar students.
