The Department of Education has said there has been no "substantive" changes in Bendigo to primary, or junior secondary school zoning as part of a statewide review of 2020 zone maps.
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The department launched a website - findmyschool.vic.gov.au - showing the 2020 zone maps this week.
The findmyschool website doesn't indicate whether there has been any change to Bendigo school zones.
However, a separate website showing Australian Secondary School Year 7 zones in 2017 suggested that zoning could have changed slightly near the border of Ironbark and Golden Square. The map on the unofficial "Australian Public School Information" website shows the border for Bendigo South East Secondary College's zone ending to the south of the Calder Highway.
The findmyschool website shows this zone ending slightly to the north of the Calder Highway.
If this is the case, it would push the northern half of Pethard Place and a southern part of Happy Valley Road into the zone for Bendigo South East.
It is unclear where the Australian Public School Information website sourced its information for the 2017 mapping.
However, principal of Bendigo South East Secondary Glen Donald said as far as the school could make out its boundaries had not changed.
He said the findmyschool website was best used as an interactive allowing parents to type in their address, rather than as a map.
Schools were provided with their 2020 zone maps at the end of Term 1, before the findmyschool website was made public.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said school zone maps in Bendigo had been updated to provide more clarity and consistency for schools and parents, and to account for changes in school provision, such as past school closures.
In Bendigo as in Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne school zones are defined by measuring the closest school using a straight line distance from any address. This is the standard methodology, which the majority of schools use across the state. In non-metropolitan parts of the state the shortest practicable route is used to find school zoning.
The Education Department released a 2018-2028 education plan in 2018, which aims to improve education outcomes across the community.
Eaglehawk Secondary College, Weeroona College and Crusoe College were contacted for comment.
School zone maps at: findmyschool.vic.gov.au
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