00:02Tied around the trees at the front of Canberra's St Clair's College, pink ribbons have appeared.
00:08It's the sign of a student campaign to keep the school for girls only.
00:12There's this huge sentiment of the fact that the girls really, really value having a single-sex education
00:18because of the unique environment that it presents us.
00:21It's not the fact that we're against boys, we're against the fact that girls would be losing out to this.
00:26The possible future of co-education at St Clair's is one of three options being considered to meet the demand
00:32for Catholic secondary education on the south side of Canberra.
00:36Making this choice just based on numbers or just on a short-term plan, I think it would be really
00:43detrimental
00:43to the school, the kids that are there now, but also the girls that won't have a chance to go
00:47there in the future.
00:47Also on the table, whether existing school sites in Canberra's southwest could be expanded or repurposed
00:53and whether land purchases across the border in New South Wales could help meet demand.
00:58In a statement, the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Education Limited said,
01:03The question before us is not about the quality of education at St Clair's,
01:07it's about how we plan responsibly for the future and respond to the needs of families
01:12who want a Catholic education for their children.
01:15The Archdiocese says it's constrained by the way the Territory releases land to non-government schools.
01:20There will be some land releases over the next few years in our growing suburbs of Canberra
01:26and growing regions that will be available for expression of interest process from non-government schools.
01:33The Archdiocese says no changes would take place prior to 2028 at the earliest.
01:38A final decision will be made early next year, but the community has been promised its feedback will be listened
01:44to.
01:44What we do?
01:47LOOPS
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