00:00 These are the little faces in Clifton Hill without a school next year.
00:06 This school is very important to me. These teachers have been here all my whole life.
00:10 It makes me feel really upset that I'm going to lose most of my friends.
00:14 Despite the Open Day sign, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools has announced St John's Primary will close at the end of Term 4.
00:22 We've got a beautiful community here and you've actually killed the community. You haven't just closed a school, you've killed a community.
00:29 St John's caters for kids with special needs and from diverse cultural backgrounds, their families feel they've been given no time to find a new school.
00:38 A lot of us will have to consider travelling outside of the area and perhaps even like myself, looking at actually relocating perhaps to a regional area to get a smaller school environment.
00:47 A viability review announced in May combed over the school's financials, facilities, education outcomes and enrolment prospects.
00:56 The review came to an end yesterday in a letter to parents and carers, the Archdiocese said it was no longer sustainable for the school to continue.
01:05 They've paid a third party consultant to do what at best could be described as a very poor and ill-informed and ill-conceived study on our school and the data that we've put forward has been ignored.
01:20 Three other schools, each with under 150 students, will be closing. St Bridget's in Baldwin, St Joseph's at Blackrock and St Mary Magdalene's Parish School in Chadston,
01:31 as the Archdiocese moves its focus to the city's northern and western growth corridors, opening 12 schools since 2018 with seven more on the way over the next three years.
01:42 Late today the Archdiocese released a statement declaring no family will be left stranded and there will be no redundancies.
01:50 The Archdiocese says it's set up a dedicated team to work with the families and the parents of the pupils here.
01:58 It will work to identify any availability at neighbouring Catholic schools and provide financial assistance to those transitioning.
02:06 But the future isn't clear for these families. Some are looking for divine intervention.
02:12 If there's something that we hope for, we hope for a second chance. We need a miracle.
02:16 We need a miracle.
02:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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