Outcome

From July to September 2019, communities were invited to have their say on how Year 7 will move to high school through a series of forums in regional South Australia, and through this website.

Over 250 individuals were involved in regional sessions and 25 written contributions were received, including 4 from peak representative groups.

The community feedback captures the contributions made throughout the consultation process.

Following community consultation, the state government has decided on the following transitional arrangements for country primary schools located more than 20km from their local area or high school (‘eligible schools’):

• By default, all Year 7s will go to high school or area school from 2022.
• Parents won’t be asked to make a choice about whether to keep their child in primary school or send them to high school – it’s assumed all year 7s will go.
• For a transition period (2022 to 2024), parents at eligible primary schools can seek a ‘by exception’ exemption from their principal to keep their year 7 student in primary school, where special circumstances exist.
• For a transition period (2022 to 2024), where the departure of the year 7 cohort causes an eligible primary school to ‘drop a class’ from the number of classes offered in 2021, that school will be able to apply for a grant to maintain the number of classes in their school.

For more information about how this will work, and the other supports being given to country primary schools, visit www.education.sa.gov.au/