New Dandenong High School to Open
The new Dandenong High School amalgamates three former school campuses into a super-sized college on the Princes Highway.
It includes seven "school within school" buildings, in which there will be 50 students from each of year 7 to year 12.
Each school will have a dedicated group of 25 teachers, specialist teachers and administration staff, resulting in teacher student ratios as low as one to 17.
Principal Martin Culkin says this compares with an average teacher student ratio of one to 22 about five years ago. He says the data that drove the redevelopment is solid, and is expecting attendance in the order of more than 99% from next year.
Class sizes can be as large as 50, led by three teachers, or as small as 17, led by a teacher. The 2100 students will share a state-of-the-art design wing, fine arts wing, performing arts centre, physical education centre, auditorium and sports stadium.
Hayball architect Richard Leonard said the school design came about after extensive consultation with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, teachers, students, unions and parents on flexible learning spaces for new teaching styles.
The schools merged into the new high school include the old Dandenong High School, Doveton Secondary College and Cleeland Secondary College.
