Joy as school wish granted

By Casey Neill
EMOTIONS spilled over as parents’ dreams for a new autism-specific school in Knox came true.
Children and Early Childhood Development Minister Maxine Morand earlier this month announced $600,000 to plan the Prep to Year 12 college.
Cathy Hammond and other parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) broke down during the announcement at Wantirna Heights School on Friday 15 May.
“It was very, very emotional,” she said.
“It was just so overwhelming. It’s been such a long process.”
Ms Hammond and Louise Anderson formed the ASD Secondary School Action Group late last year to campaign for the facility.
“Our primary focus is on the education of our children,” Ms Hammond said. The Eastern Metropolitan Region Specialist Schools Review Report last April said Knox urgently needed an all-age ASD school.
Parents can currently only send their children to a mainstream high school, special developmental school (SDS) or the nearest ASD secondary college, in Bulleen Heights.
Many children with ASD cannot cope in the mainstream education system and an SDS caters for children with all disabilities.
Ms Hammond said an ASD-specific high school education would help their children be the best they could be.
“And that’s what it’s all about,” she said.
Knox councillors earlier this year urged Ms Morand and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike to consider the school. They suggested the former Ferntree Gully Secondary College site on Dorset Road as a potential location.
Ms Hammond said ASD teachers and MPs also lent support.
“Everyone’s done their bit,” she said.
“It takes a team effort to make great things happen and this is just the beginning.”
Ms Hammond hoped she and other parents would be included in the planning and design stages.
She expected the review to take at least 12 months.
“We’re very positive the ball will start rolling very soon,” she said.
A State Government spokesman said the study would identify a larger site and determine Wantirna Heights School’s future.
He said the cash would also fund campus designs.
Wantirna Heights is open to primary school-aged children with ASD, but can only accept five or six new enrolments each year to maintain teacher-student ratios.
It currently has 88 students. Its waiting list for next year is 30, 32 the following year and 25 for 2012. Principal Gail Preston was “very pleased” with the announcement.
“I know a lot our parents and members of the community have been lobbying for this. It’s a great team effort,” she said.
Ms Preston said there was a “definite need” for the school in the eastern region.
“We have inquiries every day,” she said.
Autism affects one in 500 Australians. Communication, social interaction and behaviour can all be affected.