State schools left scrambling to accommodate extra students, with classes even moved to the library

Students have been forced out of classrooms and into common areas as Brisbane’s biggest public schools deal with extra students and allegations of catchment fraud.

Brisbane’s biggest public schools have been left scrambling to rearrange timetables and forced to use common areas for classes after extra students unexpectedly turned up on the first day of term.

Brisbane State High School has resorted to using the school library for classes after 90 unexpected students showed up this year.

It has faced similar issues in the past, with demand for places at the consistently high-performing school continuing to skyrocket.

Allegations of catchment fraud have also been rife, with parents having to jump through multiple hoops to prove to the school they truly reside in the area to gain a place.

Brisbane State High School has been forced to use the school library for classes.

BSHS school council chairman David Gillespie said more students than expected turning up at the beginning of the school year had been an ongoing trend for some years.

Meanwhile Kelvin Grove State College and Wavell State High School also had to make last minute changes to classes because of an unexpectedly high number of new enrolments.

In a message to parents, KGSC junior school principal Damien Greig said enrolment numbers had swelled to 736, and the school was still in the process of finalising their staffing.

“The numbers are higher than expected and it could result in classroom changes in some of our year levels,” Mr Greig said.

Kelvin Grove State College is dealing with higher than expected student enrolments. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said the situation was “not ideal for anyone in the school community”.

“Situations like this can cause teachers and students to feel a lack of stability,” she said.

“Libraries are busy places, they are centre points for schools, and trying to teach in these places could certainly be an inconvenience.

“But if COVID showed us anything, it showed us how resilient our teachers can be”.

Education Minister Grace Grace. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Education Minister Grace Grace said while the three schools did accept out-of-catchment students through merit-entry programs, all had enrolment management plans in place and were required to accept local students first.

“There’s no denying that these schools are growing but each of their 2021 enrolment numbers are consistent with forecasts,” she said.

“However, we won’t know the official Day 8 (enrolment) figures for these schools until at least mid-March.

“The Day 8 figures will dictate what staffing allocations and resources are needed.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said there had been some movement of students at the three schools as classes and timetables were finalised.