See the list: is your school overcrowded?

Getting your kids into the school you want is hard enough - but public schools are so overwhelmed with demand they are about to hit capacity.

The battle to get children into their local primary or high schools is intensifying, with 20 campuses hitting capacity within the next year.

Documents released by the Education Department under the Freedom of Information Act show schools all over the state – from inner-city suburbs to Mount Barker and Elizabeth and even Mount Gambier in the southeast – will be hitting their limits by the beginning of the 2024 school year.

They show some schools will be up to 173 students overcapacity.

In 2022, there were just five schools with more students than they could accommodate.

Glenunga International High School – the state’s top-rating school academically – has gone from being 61 students over capacity in 2022 to an expected 153 students at the beginning of 2024.

South Australian Primary Principals Association president Angela Falkenberg said growing housing density was making it difficult for schools to cope with demand for enrolments.

“If you look at a school like Prospect North, they are coping with massive housing infill in their area,’’ he said.

“It is easy to spot because in some of these areas there a multiple homes going up where there was one or even a five-storey tower being built.”

Glenunga International High School has gone from being 61 students over capacity in 2022 to an expected 153 students at the beginning of 2024. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he had ordered his department to develop a long-term infrastructure plan to tackle the deepening problem and “ensure our state has the education facilities we need”.

The figures show Plympton International College is expected to face the most critical overcapacity with 173 students at the beginning of next year followed by Mount Barker High School with 169 students. Grant High School in Mount Gambier will be 155 over its limit.

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner said the figures clearly showed the needs of schools should have come first at the last state budget.

“The 2022 state budget was the first budget in living memory where every single new school infrastructure project committed to by the government had no reference to the department’s recommendations,” he said.

“All were in Labor seats, all but one were in the Adelaide metro area, and the needs of school communities came second.”

Of the 19 schools which were funded in the contested budget allocation, only three were on the list of schools expected to go over capacity – Edwardstown Primary and Plympton International College, which had $3m each allocated, and Hillcrest Primary with $2.5m.

But Mr Boyer said he had already approved much more funding for other schools since the budget.

“In the eight months since I have been Minister, I have already approved another $14m of extra funding for school projects that have sat stagnant for years – including at Ceduna Area School, Nuriootpa High School, Morialta Secondary College and East Marden Primary School,’’ he said.

Adelaide High School, West Terrace, Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire

South Australian Secondary Principals’ Association chief executive Jayne Heath said incoming student numbers were difficult for planners to predict.

“I have a faith that they will be very closely monitoring this and they will work closely with the principals to ensure the facilities can meet the needs of each school community,’’ she said.

“The department is also trying to improve how accurately they are able to predict enrolment numbers.

“More schools may need capacity management plans (to limit enrolment) if the predictions are accurate.”

Ms Heath said there was still time for principals and department planners to accommodate the increased numbers by the beginning of the 2024 school year.