400 new students in four years: SEQ’s fastest growing schools revealed

Queensland schools are scrambling to expand to accommodate the influx students set to walk through the gates by 2027. Search your school here.

Queensland state schools are swelling with enrolments.

Some of Queensland’s most popular public primary schools are set swell with hundreds of extra students by 2027, with new classrooms and infrastructure expansions underway to cope with the exploding enrolments.

A Courier-Mail analysis of official state government enrolment trends has revealed the already in-demand state schools that are set for huge student growth in four years’ time.

Many of the schools that are set to boom in enrolments are public primaries already facing capacity pressures.

In the South East it includes the likes of Crestmead, Eagle Junction, Griffin, Indooroopilly, Mango Hill, Pallara, Picnic Creek and West End state schools.

West End State School had 1391 students as of February this year and is trending towards having 1748 students in four years.

Griffin state school is set to surge by nearly 400 additional students while Indooroopilly is tipped to grow by more than 150.

Similarly at Pallara State School where enrolments are forecast to grow to 1600 by 2027, an increase of 472 students.

At the start of the year, Pallara students had to learn in temporary classrooms due to delays in the installation of new facilities.

Pallara State School P&C president Mandi Tran said student numbers had grown “rapidly” in recent years on the back of neighbouring housing developments in the area.

“There are so many young families moving in and around here, it’s not a surprise we are set to increase,” Ms Tran said.

“It is a lot, a big increase and we are working quite closely with the department to make sure all the provisions are in place.”

Eagle Junction State School. Picture David Clark

A department of education spokesman said the state government had committed funding to major expansions at Griffin, Indooroopilly and Pallara state schools to ensure they have sufficient capacity to accommodate growth.

A new school in the Park Ridge area is set to open in 2025 which aims to provide enrolment relief for Crestmead, Logan Reserve and Marsden state schools.

The spokesman said Eagle Junction, Mango Hill, Picnic Creek and West End state schools all had sufficient capacity to accommodate hundreds of additional students by 2027.

“However, if these forecasts change, the government is well-placed to provide any additional infrastructure that is needed,” he said.

“With the extra capacity provided by both the new school and the expansion projects, targeted toward state schools facing the greatest growth pressures, all state schools will have sufficient capacity for forecast student numbers in the short and longer term.”

State government funding has been committed to the construction of a three-storey building with 21 learning spaces at Pallara State School which is expected to be completed for the 2025 school year.

Work is also underway at Griffin state school for a new learning centre with seven classrooms and a library annex, expected to be complete in 2025.

The spokesman said it monitors population growth and can provide additional capacity, or new schools, where required to support anticipated in-catchment student growth.

Newly opened schools in Fernbrooke, Gainsborough, Nirimba, Palmview, Ripley Central, Ripley Valley, South Rock, Woogaroo Creek state schools will naturally boom in enrolments as other year levels are added.