The Shepparton English Language Centre will stay open despite a decrease in immigration numbers lessening demand for the service.
Some staff will be temporarily moved to other education sites across Greater Shepparton until enrolments at the SELC return to pre-pandemic levels.
Currently, 75 students are enrolled at the centre, 40 at primary-school age and 35 at high-school age, with 26 staff — a mixture of full-time, part-time and casual — employed.
Students typically spend 12 months in intensive language courses before transitioning to schools across the region.
Most are in Australia on humanitarian visas, with current students from the Congo, Afghanistan, Syria and eight other countries.
Kerrianne "Dougie" Souter is currently Acting Campus Principal at the Greater Shepparton Secondary College's McGuire campus, but has been heavily involved with the SELC for years as principal of St George's Road Primary School.
Ms Souter said when borders closed due to the pandemic she knew there would be an impact on the centre.
“We knew during the pandemic that we'd see an impact on enrolments, and going into 2021 we knew the borders had been closed for a significant amount of time,” she said.
Ms Souter said there were no plans to close the centre.
“Staffing will continue to support them going into feeder schools,” she said.
“It needs to be flexible, the regulations on borders can change pretty quickly, so we'd have to be ready for that.”
She said staff would be in roles to assist students who were or had been part of the SELC program.
“They'll be deployed to support students they've been funded for. Schools will benefit from the extra support,” Ms Souter said.
“They'll be allocated to schools in the Greater Shepparton region to support new arrivals, providing support as assistant principals, helping teach English as a Second Language classes, tutoring, and in wellbeing roles.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Training said there were "no plans" to close the centre.
“There are no plans to close the Shepparton English Language Centre, which provides essential support for students from non-English-speaking backgrounds to integrate into primary and secondary schools,” she said.
“The closure of our international border has resulted in a significant decrease in enrolments at the centre.
“The department is considering how the staff at the SELC can be deployed to support students at other local schools until international borders reopen and the requirement for the centre returns."
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