SA government 20-year plan to relieve pressure on bursting public school campuses

Some of the state’s largest public schools will be well over capacity next year, but thousands of desks will sit empty at others. Search schools near you.

Some of the state’s largest public schools will exceed capacity next year, as families seek to enrol their children at top-performing campuses.

Based on latest enrolment data, 13 primary and secondary schools will surpass their cap on student numbers in 2025.

Paracombe Primary and Preschool will be at exactly 100 per cent capacity, with 84 students.

And another 15 sites will be at 95 per cent capacity or more.

Education Department data shows Marryatville High School is expected to be the most stretched campus (107.4 per cent capacity).

There will be 119 pupils enrolled above the 1600-student cap.

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Glenunga International High School will be the state’s second-most in demand campus (107.1 per cent), or 156 students more than its 2200 cap.

Mil Lel Primary School will be just as full, proportionally, with 120 students but capacity for only 112.

And Edwardstown Primary School (106.3 per cent capacity) will have 536 students at its 504-student campus.

In mid-2023 the state government was predicting 31 out of more than 400 public schools would be over capacity by 2025.

However, building upgrades and the opening of new campuses have added more than 1000 places across the system.

How crowded will your school be in 2025?

As part of a 20-year education infrastructure plan the government has committed $155m to build a new high school in Adelaide’s north, $62m for a new primary and preschool in Mt Barker and $38m for upgrades and expansions elsewhere.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the number of schools exceeding capacity had dropped despite an extra 2000 students enrolled in the public system this year.

“We want every school to be a great school with families experiencing the same quality of education no matter where they live,” he said.

Edwardstown Primary School principal Vicky Bashford said construction was underway on a $3m project featuring six general learning areas, three teacher preparation and student support spaces, a covered walkway and an access ramp.

This would enable the school “to continue delivering the standard of facilities and learning programs that support effective teaching … for all our young people,” she said.

Opposition education spokesman, and former education minister, John Gardner said parents had “a reasonable expectation that their child should be able to get into their local public school”.

Mr Gardner said the former Liberal government committed $1.5bn to upgrade more than 100 public schools, and open five new campuses, in the years before Labor took power at the 2022 election.

The SA school with the most spare capacity in 2025 is Nangwarry Primary School, with just 20 students enrolled but space for 240.

Woomera Area School ranks next, with 17 students and capacity for 200.

There are 25 schools with space for at least another 400 students including Aldinga Payinthi College B-12, which opened in 2022, and Adelaide Botanic High School in the CBD.

That campus opened in 2019 and gained space for an extra 700 students through a $98m expansion completed this year.