Parkwood Secondary College (PSC) was a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

suburb of Ringwood North. The school was founded in 1979 as ''Parkwood High School'', and closed at the end of the 2012 school year. In 2014, the land and buildings were re-opened as the North Ringwood Community House. The school provided high school education for Years 7 through 12, with Year 11 and 12 students undertaking the

Victorian Certificate of Education The Victorian Certificate of Education (often abbreviated VCE) is one credential available to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in the Australian state of Victoria. The VCE is the predominant choice for students ...

. It formerly offered a range of VCE subjects as well as the

Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a 'hands-on' option for students in Years 10, 11, and 12 and is a credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in the Australian State of Victoria si ...

program.

Proposed merger

In 2008, the then Labor state government announced a $100 million pledge to seven Victorian secondary schools. This resulted in cursory plans in 2009 to merge Parkwood Secondary College with the nearby

Norwood Secondary College Norwood Secondary College is a secondary school located in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, situated in Ringwood, Victoria, Australia and right next to Mullum Primary School. Norwood Secondary College, in the City of Maroondah, is a single campus co-e ...

. Several years passed with no action, and after a change in government, the community was uncertain whether the new Liberal government would continue the plan to merge the schools. On 1 March 2012, the principal Barbara Laidlaw announced that the merger would not proceed, stating that the school had "a strong and dynamic future".

Closure

On 30 July 2012, the school council of Parkwood Secondary College announced its intention to close the school at the end of the year due to falling enrolments. This announcement came five months after the confirmation that Parkwood would continue indefinitely. There were 306 students enrolled at the school in its final year of operation. After the closure, many of the college's students moved to either

or the newly merged

Melba College Melba Secondary College is a secondary school in Croydon, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Melba has a student population of approximately 560 students. The school's main campus is on Brentnall Road in Croydon. History Durin ...

. Some students of the school posted pictures, videos, and messages on a Facebook page in its memory.

Current use of site

In October 2013,

Maroondah City Council The City of Maroondah is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Maroondah had a population of 117,498 in June 2018. The City of Maroondah was created through the amalgamation the former Cities of ...

announced its intention to re-open the site of Parkwood Secondary College as a Community House and

Men's Shed Men's sheds or community sheds are non-profit local organisations that provide a space for craftwork and social interaction. The movement originated in Australia around the 1980s as a way to improve the health and wellbeing of older men. Howev ...

. The site had been dormant for nearly 2 years and had become a target of vandals, so significant works were undertaken including the removal of graffiti and vandalism. Since its re-opening in 2014, the site now serves as th
North Ringwood Community House
which was previously located at the rear of the Holy Spirit Primary School in Ringwood North.

References

External links

* *{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221092721/http://mec.vic.edu.au/ , date=21 February 2012 , , title=Maroondah Education Coalition
Photograph of Parkwood High School, 1981North Ringwood Community House
Educational institutions established in 1979 Educational institutions disestablished in 2012 Secondary schools in Melbourne Buildings and structures in the City of Maroondah 1979 establishments in Australia 2012 disestablishments in Australia