Glenelg Primary School puts a cap on on Reception enrolments after being denied extra classrooms

RECORD enrolments have forced a beachside public primary school to put a cap on new students, joining others in the east under the same restrictions.

Glenelg Primary School from Brighton Rd, Glenelg East.

• Enrolment freezes at Linden Park, Rose Park, Burnside schools
• Parkside Primary School running out of room after jump in numbers
• St Leonards Primary needs extra space after verging on closure
• Publics make up half top 100 best performing NAPLAN schools

RECORD enrolments have forced Glenelg Primary School to impose a freeze on its student numbers.

The restriction – endorsed by the State Education Department – means no more than 100 Reception admissions will be permitted each year, even for families living in the catchment area.

A “capacity management plan” has been imposed because the Glenelg East school’s numbers grew to more than 800 this year – an increase of more than 200 on the 2011 figure.

The freeze, announced last Tuesday with immediate effect, caps total enrolment at 800.

If more than 100 Reception applications are received, the school will rank potential acceptance based on the length of time a child has lived in the school zone, distance of home address from the school and whether siblings are already enrolled.

Applications for places in Years 1 to 7 will be considered only if a vacancy occurs at the Diagonal Rd campus.

Glenelg principal Rae Taggart put the rapid growth down to the school’s “lovely feel and quality programs” but also an increase in subdivisions in the district.

“My belief is, if you drive around the streets in our catchment area, so many houses are being knocked down with two houses put on the site,” she said.

“They are generally a bit cheaper and tend to attract young families.”

Glenelg Primary principal Rae Taggart with students Georgia and Cooper. Source: File

Mrs Taggart said the plan will help manage numbers so the best possible learning environment can be achieved.

Glenelg had initially asked the Education Department for more classrooms to deal with booming entry applications but was told no more open space could be lost.

Instead, the department said enrolment would have to be managed.

The school has access to Glenelg Oval through to a lease from Holdfast Bay Council.

“If we didn’t have use of Glenelg Oval ... we would have lots of behavioural problems because kids would be on top of each other with nowhere to go in the yard,” Mrs Taggart said.

Glenelg’s zone is bounded by Anzac Highway, Morphett Rd, the coastline and a southern border made up of Oaklands Rd, Diagonal Rd, Moore St, Bath St and Weewanda St.

Education Department infrastructure executive director Ross Treadwell said the move will make sure the school can continue to operate in a safe and manageable environment for years to come.

Any children who miss out on a Reception spot will be placed on the enrolment register and referred for entry to neighbouring schools.

The closest public primary schools to Glenelg are Brighton, Warradale and Paringa Park.

The State Government’s announcement comes after several eastern suburbs primary schools were forced to freeze enrolments in recent years, including Linden Park, Rose Park and Burnside.