Revealed: Sydney’s most overcrowded primary and high schools

1 week ago 8

Overcrowded nationalist schools successful booming north-west Sydney are operating astatine treble oregon triple their enrolment caps, pushing immoderate campuses to transcend their authoritative capableness by 1000 students.

Data obtained by the Herald reveals astatine slightest a 3rd of schools successful The Hills Shire, Camden, Ryde and Hornsby are supra their enrolment caps by much than 100 students each, with the bulk of those superior schools.

This year’s figures, however, amusement that portion immoderate nationalist schools are being squeezed by surging enrolments, much than 300 NSW schools are underutilised, with bare classrooms and abstraction for hundreds much pupils.

The Ponds High has overtaken Cherrybrook Technology High to go the largest nationalist precocious school.

In the section authorities areas of Woollahra, Waverley, Bayside, and Lane Cove, galore schools are losing enrolments, and nary campuses are operating supra their pupil cap. Hundreds of nationalist schools person reported declining pupil numbers since 2022.

Georges River College Hurstville Boys Campus, J J Cahill Memorial High, Marrickville Public and Darlington Public person abstraction for hundreds much students. In the eastbound suburbs, superior schools specified arsenic Rose Bay Public, Bondi Beach and Coogee Public are astatine slightest 100 students nether their enrolment cap.

In contrast, schools successful the high-growth north-west, specified arsenic Northbourne Public successful Marsden Park, are coping with swelling enrolments that person pushed students into dozens of demountable classrooms. The schoolhouse has astir 2000 students, 16 kindergarten classes and 40 demountables. It has surpassed its enrolment headdress by 1020 students.

Other sought-after schools, including Rouse Hill Public, Carlingford West, The Ponds High, St Ives High and Riverbank Public, person exceeded their caps by 600 oregon much students.

Enrolment caps were introduced successful 2019 and are based connected the capableness of a school’s imperishable buildings. Schools cannot judge out-of-area enrolments if they are operating beyond their cap.

The city’s north-west is among the nation’s astir prosperous regions, adding thousands of radical successful the past 4 years, but frustrated parents accidental nationalist schoolhouse capableness has failed to support gait with colonisation growth. Many lower-fee backstage schools successful the north- and south-west person been established to cater for booming populations.

About 60 per cent of families successful the Hills Shire are couples with children, astir 15 percent points higher than the nationalist average.

However, principals accidental parents are inactive schoolhouse buying contempt a crackdown connected out-of-area enrolments, arsenic families determination suburbs to warrant they are successful a catchment with their preferred school.

“Families request to beryllium alert enrolment zones tin beryllium redrawn. So moving into a catchment country erstwhile a kid is young doesn’t warrant the schools volition inactive beryllium successful that portion by the clip that kid is successful precocious school,” said Craig Petersen, caput of the Secondary Principals Council.

“With the expected colonisation maturation implicit adjacent decennary we tin expect uncertainty astir the enrolment zones for each school,” helium said. “We truly request amended readying good up of time.”

About 27 schools are moving beneath 60 per cent of their enrolment cap, with the astir schools underutilised successful the interior south-west. The fig of schools successful Sydney that are nether their headdress by much than 200 students grew from 147 to 168, with the bulk precocious schools.

The 2024 enrolment information shows The Ponds High, besides successful the city’s north-west, has eclipsed Cherrybrook Technology High arsenic the largest NSW nationalist precocious schoolhouse with 2200 students.

Principal Jenny Weal said the schoolhouse opened successful 2015 with 183 students, and its numbers are expected to highest successful 2028 with 2430 students.

“We’ve grown much than 10 times over. Riverbank Public, with astir 2000 students, is besides connected the aforesaid tract which makes america conscionable a immense campus,” said Weal.

With 48 demountables, Weal said the school’s biggest situation was dealing with “a reduced playground footprint and trying to marque definite we tin get energy to each the demountables, particularly connected blistery days and erstwhile the students are utilizing laptops”.

The Ponds High opened successful 2015 with 183 students and is present the state’s biggest nationalist precocious schoolhouse with 2200 students.

“The demountables are comfortable; they conscionable instrumentality up acold excessively overmuch space,” she said. “When a schoolhouse is built, determination is simply a look for however overmuch shadiness and screen students need, truthful we request to program to warrant we volition person capable shelter. There are benefits, though, to a large schoolhouse – we tin connection aggregate extracurricular activities and a immense scope of subjects.”

Weal said portion the bulk of section superior students enrolled astatine section nationalist precocious schools, the “biggest country we suffer our kids to is selective schools. That’s a precise fashionable prime with parents”.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car said the government’s caller enrolment maturation audit recovered “the erstwhile authorities ... were unsighted to the needs of families successful the booming suburbs of north-west and south-west Sydney”.

“The schoolhouse infrastructure backlog cannot beryllium reversed overnight; however, we are investing $3.5 cardinal to upgrade 51 [schools] and physique 24 caller schools successful occidental Sydney.” There are presently 5000 demountables astatine nationalist schools crossed NSW.

Year 10 students astatine The Ponds High successful north-west Sydney. The schoolhouse has 48 demountables.

At Carlingford West Public, which is 1400 students implicit its enrolment headdress and has 75 demountables, caller classrooms are being built, on with a caller hall, room and play area.

A spokesperson for School Infrastructure NSW said a caller superior and precocious schoolhouse was being built successful the north-west suburb of Melonba to assistance easiness unit connected Northbourne Public.

A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said the authorities was examining ways to assistance enrolments and marque “public schools the archetypal prime of parents”.

“During the word interruption the section held a roundtable with our acquisition partners to sermon enrolment argumentation and however we tin code issues and conscionable schoolhouse needs.”