Some Sydney high schools take hundreds of extra students. Yet selectives haven’t budged

Sydney’s selective schools have been immune from taking on more students over the past five years, despite public comprehensives around Sydney being forced to cram in hundreds of extra pupils beyond their official capacity.

Gifted education experts say the government should scale up the number of selective school places in response to population growth, while others within the sector warn any further expansion of selective schooling will widen the gap between the state’s richest and poorest students.

Enrolment data shows some Sydney schools have increased by hundreds of students over five years but the number of selective school spots available has not changed, effectively making entry more competitive. Sydney’s population grew 5.4 per cent in those years.

Locally, the disparity between selective and comprehensive student numbers can be seen at schools like James Ruse Agricultural High School in Carlingford in the city’s north-west– where student numbers have remained at 850 over the past five years.

At Cumberland High, student numbers have grown by 300 students in five years and the school was 120 pupils over its official capacity in 2023, Department of Education figures show.

Selective school Baulkham Hills High’s numbers have remained constant over the period but at nearby comprehensive Castle Hill High, enrolments stand at 1000 students beyond capacity. Cherrybrook Technology High is 628 students over capacity.

James Ruse Agricultural High School’s student numbers have not changed with population growth.Credit: Jessica Hromas

It is a similar story in the south. Cronulla High had 1281 students enrolled last year – exceeding the official enrolment cap by 481. Nearby selective Caringbah High has had no change in enrolment over the past five years.

University of NSW gifted education expert Professor Jae Jung said not every child who was academically gifted necessarily belonged in a selective school, but it made sense to lift the number of places available.

“If there is an increase in the student population, it would be logical for an increase in the corresponding number of selective school placements,” he said.

Australian Tutoring Association president Mohan Dhall said selective high schools should do their share of the heavy lifting when catering to the growing student population in certain parts of Sydney. “They need to increase their enrolments,” he said.

However, he said any increase should come from the so-called equity cohort of students to address the public system’s growing segregation – that is, where students from relatively advantaged home backgrounds dominate entry to selective schools.

The equity model was introduced from 2022 to reserve a portion of seats in selective classes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Adding another 3000 equity places at selective schools across the state would be a way of these schools doing their fair share of accommodating higher student enrolments,” he said.

“It would go a long way to addressing inequity in the selective system and it would reduce the tutoring effect. You would also take away a level of entitlement from a cohort from advantaged homes who don’t experience much interaction with kids from other backgrounds.”

There are currently 21 fully selective and 26 partially selective public high schools in NSW.

Former NSW education minister Adrian Piccoli warned against expanding the footprint of the fully selective schools because they were not beneficial for educational outcomes across the board.

“When I was education minister, we didn’t expand them, there was no evidence to say they actually helped the system,” he said.

“Just because the population has grown, I don’t think it is a good idea to increase the number of selective schools. Selective streams within a school are a much better model. That’s better than pulling a student out from their local school and putting them somewhere in an entirely different school.“

Asked about the disparity between selectives and comprehensives, a spokesperson for Education Minister Prue Car said the government was committed to including a new selective stream at Leppington High.

“It’s a priority of the Minns Government to ensure all of our high schools, both comprehensive and selective, provide high-quality education,” the spokesperson said.

“We are committed to building new and upgraded high schools across Sydney and regional NSW, including a new selective stream in fast-growing South West Sydney.

“The new high school at Leppington will ensure all students in this rapidly growing area are catered for, including advanced learners.”