Fast-growing Brisbane school to be impacted by building delays

Parents at one of Brisbane’s fastest growing schools are fearful of major impacts as new buildings are delayed amid a surge in enrolments.

Parents of students attending Pallara State School are concerned the school’s facilities are not keeping up with a surge in enrolments. Picture: Nigel Hallett

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Parents at one of Brisbane’s fastest growing schools fear their children’s education will be impacted amid delays in installing new facilities to cater to surging enrolments.

Enrolments at Pallara State School in Brisbane’s south have exploded on the back of nearby housing developments with three times as many students than in 2016.

While the state government has invested heavily into school expansions, parents have expressed concern after being advised of delays to some temporary buildings.

A Department of Education spokeswoman confirmed there were delays to the installation of the buildings, set to be used as a short-term solution to accommodate the significant enrolment growth.

However, the spokeswoman said the buildings would not be able to be installed until late March next year, due to the nature of the site works required.

The spokeswoman said the department would fit out and equip existing specialist spaces so they could be used as alternative learning spaces, until the temporary buildings were operational.

Mandi Tran with her children Oliver, 10, and Grayson, 8, outside Pallara State School. Picture: Nigel Hallett

It comes after parents expressed concerns that the school was ill-equipped to handle the enrolment boom for the first few weeks of the new year.

Mother-of-three Mandi Tran told The Courier-Mail last week that classrooms, Prep play spaces and specialist student spaces were at a premium.

Ms Tran, and other parents, fear the school’s entire Year 4 cohort would be without classrooms for the start of Term 1 due to the delays.

“How do you learn without a proper classroom,” Ms Tran said.

The department spokeswoman said it had been working with the principal and school to ensure all students would be accommodated at the start of the 2023 school year despite this delays.

Ms Tran said the enrolment explosion had been triggered by nearby housing developments with new children coming in “left, right and centre”.

“Pallara used to have a lot of vacant land, which has all been turned into residential housing, lots of homes, lots of families,” she said.

“We’ve been told there will be 200 preps next year, that’s an alarming rate.”

Ms Tran said she was set to meet with the school principal this week to voice her concerns.

Mum of two Kat Green said the enrolments had exploded in the seven years since her children had been at the school.

“My eldest is just about to graduate and the numbers have tripled in that time, it’s been rapid growth and things are getting desperate,” Ms Green said.

According to the school’s annual reports, Pallara SS had 328 student enrolments when it opened in its new campus in 2016. As of August this year, its enrolments were 1034.

The department spokeswoman confirmed all children would have access to the spaces they needed, including classrooms and play space, until the buildings were installed.

The spokeswoman said Pallara State School had a maximum enrolment capacity of 1142 students but was able to cater for 1260 students if spaces in existing buildings were repurposed.

The state government had made an $11.5m investment into a three-storey learning centre with 17 classrooms which opened in 2021 while a further $16m was announced in the 2022-23 state budget with planning underway in consultation with the school.