Teachers who lost their jobs this month when the Colmont School suddenly collapsed are working on reduced wages funded by parents so that the school’s year 12 students can complete their crucial final few weeks of study.
Year 12 students from the failed Colmont School, who had their first day at Ivanhoe Grammar School on Monday, pictured with principal Gerard Foley.
The senior students are splitting their final days of secondary school between a private school campus in Doreen, a TAFE in Wallan and at home, learning remotely, in a patchwork arrangement hastily strung together by their parents and teachers that is being partly funded by private donations.
Colmont was closed by voluntary administrators early this month when on the brink of insolvency, giving its 360 students just days to find new schools. Students at the year 3-12 school have since been enrolled between more than 30 independent, Catholic and government schools.
The school’s snap closure also stranded dozens of year 12 students less than three months before they were due to sit exams for the international baccalaureate (IB), because Colmont (formerly the Kilmore International School), was the only school in central Victoria that offered the IB diploma.
Ivanhoe Grammar School has since agreed to provide facilities for 26 year 12 students and their teachers three days a week, and for their exams in November, while the Mitchell Shire Council has provided a room at GoTAFE’s Wallan campus for two days, and tutors are giving virtual lessons after hours for some subjects.
Ten former Colmont teachers’ casual wages are being paid directly by year 12 students’ families, at a cost of $1700 per student. Teachers and tutors are also being paid via donations gathered through a GoFundMe appeal.
The year 12 students had their first day at Ivanhoe Grammar School on Monday. Among them are several international students who were boarding at the Kilmore school, who have since been found homestay accommodation with families whose children attend Ivanhoe Grammar.
An Ivanhoe Grammar spokesman confirmed “the Colmont IB students are being taught by Colmont teachers, through an arrangement with the teachers and the families, using Ivanhoe Grammar School facilities at the Plenty campus”.
Jane Lamb, whose daughter was in year 12 at Colmont, said the teachers had deferred taking on more permanent jobs at other schools so as not to leave their students stranded.
“The teachers there are amazing people,” she said. “The whole thing has been very stressful, but we are just very thankful that these kids have got the opportunity to finish their IB.” She said Ivanhoe Grammar’s support had been vital.
Funds from the GoFundMe appeal will also go towards incidental expenses such as photocopying, and to pay tutors in subjects for which no teacher is available, Lamb said.
Parents have not recouped fees for the rest of the 2022 school year.
Parents were instrumental in a vote by creditors to replace the former voluntary administrators, Vince and Associates, with new administrators appointed by the school’s landlords. The landlords have made claims that they are in contact with unidentified investors who are willing to commit funding to revive the school’s operations.
But former administrator Paul Langdon, who was originally appointed by Colmont’s former board in July, said families had been given “false hope” by the landlord, who has presented no genuine proposal to save the school.
“There was no proposal,” he said.
The school’s creditors, Cor Cordis, said last week they were “continuing to work with interested parties in relation to whether there is a longer-term position for the company”, but provided no further details.
On Monday, a spokesperson said, “the administration process provides for proposals to be put forward but, at this stage, it is too early to determine specific outcomes”.
“We are aware that the current school registration requirements are no longer met,” the spokesperson said.
“Our initial priority was to ensure that the students’ education was prioritised. Now that they have transitioned, our focus is to commence our investigations.”
The school, which was heavily reliant on international student revenue and leased its buildings and facilities, recorded a $4.38 million deficit last year and $620,000 loss in 2020.
The school’s landlords received $2.12 million per year in marketing and licence fees between 2017 and 2020. Those fees, for use of the Kilmore International School name, were decisive in its name change to Colmont School in July.
Landlord Chien-long Tai released a statement late last week saying “the school’s future now lies with the discussions between potential funders and the administrators”.
“If successful, this could allow the school to return to full operations in 2023,” Tai wrote.
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