Farrer Primary School community divided over fence proposal

Consultation over a boundary fence at Farrer Primary School was prompted by two parents writing to the Education Minister about a lack of investment in the school and discussions with school board and staff.

A letter to families said staff were in favour of the boundary fence because some students left the grounds when things were not going as they hoped, putting them at physical and psychological risk.

The school's building services officer regularly finds broken glass, alcohol bottles and cans, drug paraphernalia, animal faeces, fast food waste and items on the roof.

The school spent $5000 to remediate vandalism in the 2022 year and this year vandals have broken windows, broken a bridge in the playground, damaged bike track signage and damaged new equipment that hadn't been installed.

"In 2022 the cost of repairs from vandalism was 800 per cent of the projected amount and included broken basketball hoops, broken windows and doors and graffiti," the letter said.

"School money needed to be redeployed from educational spending to fix repairs following vandalism."

The school has also had unwelcome visitors during school time, including an incident where someone was bitten by a dog during break time.

However, as one of the last remaining schools without a boundary fence, many community members want the school to stay this way.

Tom McLaren, who has two children who are former students and one child currently attending the school, said the cost of the fence would be wasteful and other things could be done to prevent vandalism, such as security cameras.

"It's just cheaper to deal with the vandalism than it is to build a $300,000 fence," Mr McLaren said.

"There are 167 schools in Canberra. And 164 of them have fences. And I know this sounds harsh, but my response to those families whose kids run away from school is go to one of 164 schools that have fences, and don't force a change on our school nobody wants just for a really tiny minority of families."

Mr McLaren said the fence would diminish the strong community feeling in Farrer.

"In our community people walk down to the school on a weekend and just happen to bump into other families and kids and that sets up a lot of connections," he said.

Stacey Rippon was opposed a fence when it was proposed in 2015 and remains unconvinced that it would improve safety and security at the school.

"It's not really dealing with the child or why the child is running. It's more kind of dealing with the department's duty of care really," Ms Rippon said.

She said a fence would provide a false sense of security and promoted the idea that the school environment was unsafe.

Farrer Primary School P&C vice-president Nick Tebbey said the P&C did not have a specific view on the proposed fence.

"We understand there's a lot of different views among parents and the community and I don't think it's necessarily appropriate for the P&C to take one side in this," Mr Tebbey

"It's an open consultation and we're just encouraging people to participate in that consultation."

Two parents in favour of the fence, who did not wish to be named, said they wanted money spent on repairing vandalism to be spent directly on students' education and a lack of fencing put pressure on teachers to monitor students at risk of absconding.

"All it takes is one incident. No-one wants to be the parent of that child when an incident happens," one parent said.

The parents said there were now other places where children could play in the suburb, including a nature play area.

Mr Tebbey said there had been some criticism on the wording of the consultation which gives the impression the fence will definitely be installed.

"There's certainly no one that's ever said in as many words this is definitely going ahead."

An Education Directorate spokesman said the design and cost of the fence has not been finalised. Part of the consultation was around how to provide community access to outdoor spaces and play equipment outside school hours on weekends and holidays.

"This will be provided for through timed gates and a booking system for some spaces. Gates would be locked after dark," the spokesman said.

"These details will be finalised in consultation with the school community."

The cost of the fence will be borne by the directorate, no the school's budget.

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"Feedback from schools that have had fences installed show that incidents, threats and risks are reduced and controlled with the installation of fencing. Fences also support reasonable staff workloads during playground supervision," the spokesperson said.

Other schools that have recently gone ahead with boundary fences include Hawker College, Campbell High School and Aranda Primary School.

In 2021, a five-year-old child absconded from Aranda Primary School during lunch time, prompting calls from their parents for a boundary fence.

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