The Hills Shire schools with the most crowded classrooms revealed
Find and compare which schools have the highest and lowest student to teacher ratios in the area.
Schools Hub
Don't miss out on the headlines from Schools Hub. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Marian Catholic College students tackle bee problem with apiary
- Harding Miller Education Foundation offers female scholarships
The Hills district’s most crowded and best resourced classrooms have been revealed.
An analysis of national data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has shown which schools in the area have the highest student to teacher ratios.
According to the authority’s 2018 figures, the most up to date data which includes all state and private schools, St Angela’s Primary School in Castle Hill had the highest number of students each teacher had to teach than at any other school in the area, being 21.8.
St Michael’s Primary School had the second highest student to teacher ratio at 20.9 students for every teacher, followed by Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, which has 20.8 students for every teacher.
A spokesman for the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta said class sizes vary at each school and from grade to grade based on enrolment demand and other areas such as student support needs.
“When class sizes are larger or individual student needs are higher, additional support is provided, including through the allocation of support staff and relevant resources, such as technology,” he said.
In contrast to the schools with the highest student to teacher ratios, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children Thomas Pattison School in North Rocks recorded the lowest.
For every teacher at the school there are just 2.8 students.
Woodbury School scored the second lowest with a ratio at 3.3 students per teacher in the area.
Principal Lauren Chapman said the school’s intentionally low ratio to help their students, who have learning disabilities, be better equipped with life skills when they move on from the school.
“Research has show the higher support they’re given in their earlier years, the greater the rates of success are for their future development,” Mrs Chapman said.
The school has a number of general staff, such as learning support aids, with the addition of highly trained staff such as on-site specialist behavioural providers and a speech pathologist.
Warrah Special School in Dural had the region’s third lowest ratio at 3.8 students per teacher.
According to ACARA the national student-teacher ratio was 13.5 students for every teacher.
Across the country independent private schools had the lowest student to teacher ratios with 11.7 students to every teacher.
Government schools had an average of 13.8 students for every teacher while Catholic schools had an average of 14 students for every teacher.
Student-teacher ratios do not take into account teacher aides or non-teaching staff at schools, only the full-time equivalent teachers.