Zuccoli Primary School: New demountables come online early, taking built capacity to 665

A Palmerston primary school that exceeded its built capacity by 13 per cent last year, despite only opening in 2020, will have six demountable classrooms this year, with the department promising an end to makeshift learning spaces.

Zuccoli Primary School will have a capacity of 665 in 2025 after six new demountable classrooms were added. Picture: Facebook

More demountable classrooms have been added to the sorely overcrowded Zuccoli Primary School, which was over capacity in 2024 despite only opening in 2020.

Early last year this masthead reported the school was 13 per cent overcapacity, with two demountable classrooms already in operation, two more due in the back end of 2024, and two more for this year.

However, the Department of Education has confirmed the demountable classrooms have been expedited, with all six now in place ahead of the 2025 school year.

It’s believed the total cost of purchasing and installing the prefabricated demountable classrooms was about $3.3m.

Zuccoli Primary School took its first cohort of students in 2020. Four years later, it was over capacity. Picture: Supplied

A department spokesman said the school was expected to have 612 students this year, including preschool, against a new capacity of 665.

The school’s original built capacity was for 430 students plus 88 preschoolers.

The department spokesman denied any classes this year would be held in makeshift spaces as they were last year, with parents previously telling this masthead they had children whose classes were held in science labs and common areas enclosed by partition boards.

“The school is accessing all available learning spaces in 2025 and will have adequate space for all students,” the spokesman said.

Zuccoli Primary School. Picture: File

Parents seeking to place their children in before and/or after school care at Zuccoli Primary School, however, will continue to face a battle for spots, with the capacity remaining at 208 students.

In August, 50 students were on a wait list for the service.

Another intractable issue for the school is traffic chaos, particularly during drop off and pick up, but also during large school assemblies and functions.

Parents report an epidemic of cars parked on verges and footpaths, blocking foot traffic, and vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road to get around the queue for the Peaflower St kiss ‘n’ go.

The previous Labor government denied the school reaching capacity so soon after opening represented a failure of planning.

In fairness to the former government, projections for enrolments at Zuccoli Primary School undershot the mark significantly.

In 2018, the former government tasked Charles Darwin University’s Northern Institute with crunching the numbers for future enrolments in the greater Darwin area.

The report, ‘Population and Government School Enrolment Projections for Greater Darwin’, obtained by this masthead under freedom of information legislation, found Zuccoli Primary School was likely to have an enrolment of 519 students in 2026.

This figure will have been exceeded by 17 per cent a year early, on the department’s figures.

Other projections for primary schools in Palmerston have proven wildly optimistic.

By 2026, Bakewell was due to have 927 students; Durack, 708; and Rosebery, 819.

As at Term 3, 2024, the schools had an average enrolment of 729, 495, and 387, respectively.

Projections for other Palmerston primary schools, such as Driver, Gray, and Woodroffe, are far closer to being fulfilled by 2026.

Originally published as Zuccoli Primary School: New demountables come online early, taking built capacity to 665