Enrolment crush forces school zone crackdown, as data shows which are growing fastest

Parents are being warned their choice of public schools will become “increasingly limited” as zones are more strictly enforced. See how much every SA school is growing.

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Parents are being warned by the Education Department that their choice of public schools will become “increasingly limited”, as population pressure and the shift of Year 7 into high school means zone enforcement will only become stricter.

The blunt message comes as The Advertiser reveals the fastest growing public, Catholic and independent schools.

Our search tool below covers every school in the state.

The scramble for in-zone real estate for popular schools is likely to intensify, after the rezoning furore for CBD high schools exposed how committed parents are to securing places in the most sought-after schools.

But the department says its goal is to make every school desirable.

Data shows seven of SA’s public high schools have grown by more than 20 per cent over the past five years alone – Seaview, Whyalla, Playford International, Banksia Park International, Nuriootpa, Edward John Eyre and Mt Barker.

Right behind them on the growth list are some of Adelaide’s most sought-after schools in Adelaide High, which was the focus of the rezoning uproar, Brighton Secondary and Glenunga International High.

The department’s infrastructure director Ross Treadwell said projections for overall public system growth in coming years showed it would be “greater than historic trends”.

“This includes 20,000 additional public secondary students as a result of population growth, Year 7 moving into high school and public schools taking a growing proportion of students,” Mr Treadwell said.

“It is really important that families understand that the opportunity for a child to attend a school located outside their zone is going to be increasingly limited.”

Mr Treadwell said investments in school upgrades and two new high schools for Adelaide’s north and south would ensure children could attend their local school.

The shift of Year 7 into high school means zone enforcement will only become stricter.

Many public schools are already enforcing zones and 17 have formal “capacity management plans”.

Most of those are primary schools; the latest being Magill School. No more zone changes are currently planned except for any associated with the new high schools. Education Minister John Gardner said: “Neighbouring schools are already seeing significant capacity pressures which are expected to be somewhat relieved when construction of the new schools is complete.”

Documents released under Freedom of Information recently revealed almost half of students at zoned public high schools lived outside their zone last year.

The department insists that, special entry programs aside, the vast majority of students at the most popular schools resided in those zones when they were enrolled.

But it acknowledges problems with families moving into a zone purely to gain enrolment, then moving out, or claiming investment properties are primary residences for the same reason.

Chief executive Rick Persse recently told The Advertiser there may be a case for making parents prove they have lived in a school’s zone for a significant period, say two years, before they could be considered a priority for enrolment.

But he said families also moved for legitimate reasons and ultimately enforcement was too hard anyway, so it was a better goal to make all schools desirable.

“Every school in this state is going to be great,” he said.

Under new laws passed last month, parents can be punished for giving false housing details to gain enrolment for their children in popular schools, with the Education Department able to order which school those students must attend.

Mr Treadwell said: “It’s essential for families to familiarise themselves with school zones by using the department’s Find a School tool, and to be aware of the enrolment criteria well in advance of the Reception and Year 8 enrolment processes.”

‘BUSH SCHOOL’ IN THE HIILS GROWS FASTEST

THE Adelaide Hills school that lays claim to being Australia’s first “bush school”, where students spend most of their time outdoors, is the fastest growing in the state.

For more than five years Upper Sturt Primary has followed the forest school model used in some northern European nations and claims to be “the perfect bush school site”.

Its enrolment has quadrupled from just 30 in 2013 to 120 this year, which it has attributed to parents looking for mainstream alternatives.

Close to 50 schools have lifted enrolments by 50 per cent or more in the five years from 2013-18.

After Upper Sturt, Sheidow Park Primary is the fastest growing public primary school, with enrolments nearly doubling to more than 350 over the five years to 2018.

Yet last month it was revealed the southern suburbs school had received no capital works funding from 2013-17.

Eastern Fleurieu R-12 School, which has multiple campuses, ballooned from 1068 to 1557 students over five years.

In March, it complained that severe overcrowding at it Year 7-12 Strathalbyn campus was forcing students to be taught outside in extreme conditions, while three classes were packed into the open plan library.

The Education Department said two temporary buildings would be added.

Other booming public high schools have been Seaview High, Playford International College, Banksia Park International High, and two of the three secondary campuses in Whyalla, where a new $100 million school will open in 2022.

In some cases amalgamation is the reason for ballooning student numbers, as with Sacred Heart College’s merger with Marymount College in the Catholic sector, and St John’s Lutheran Primary becoming part of Concordia College.

The figures come in a period of major enrolment upheaval in SA.

Most Catholic schools have already moved Year 7s into secondary settings. The public system will make the shift by 2022, demanding huge capital investment in some high schools and causing anxiety in some school communities about the amount of funding on offer.

The fastest growing regional schools are small private ones, Tyndale Christian School in Murray Bridge and Crossways Lutheran School in Ceduna.

Encounter Lutheran College went from 316 to 533 students.

Upper Sturt Primary declined to comment.