Education: At least six new private schools needed on Gold Coast as student population grows
HOW FULL IS YOUR SCHOOL?: At least six new private schools need to be built on the Gold Coast in the next decade to keep pace with the city’s forecast booming population, and that doesn’t include the public network.
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AT least six new private schools need to be built on the Gold Coast in the next decade to keep pace with the city’s forecast booming population.
And that doesn’t include the public network, which is facing a calamity if infrastructure spending fails to exceed demand.
Department of Education figures shows seven of the city’s 69 state schools will be at capacity within four years if average student increases continue — and all of them will be full within 10 years.
Government-funded classrooms on the Coast can currently hold 82,945 students.
Across both the private and public sectors, there are 106,000 school-age children (5-19) on the Gold Coast. In 2016, the state government statistician’s office predicted that population (5-19) would balloon to 144,165 by 2031.
Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) says a quarter of the city’s primary and secondary students now study at independent schools — the “highest percentage of any region in Queensland”.
“In recent months, a number of Gold Coast independent schools have also reported increased enrolment inquiries from families looking to relocate to Queensland from interstate,” ISQ executive director David Robertson said.
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To maintain existing levels of schooling choice, ISQ projected six new Prep to Year 12 independent schools would be needed on the Gold Coast by 2036.
This comes five years after demographer Bernard Salt called for 35 new schools in the city by 2050.
“Access to affordable and well-located land in growth corridors is the greatest challenge for new independent school entrants or the expansion of existing campuses,” Mr Robertson said.
The last mainstream private school to open on the Coast was St Joseph’s College in Coomera in 2019.
In the public sector, at least three schools will hit their limit in the next two years.
Mr Robertson’s warning comes as city leaders brace for an influx of interstate migrants looking for better lifestyles post COVID-19.
Schools in developed beachside suburbs are feeling the strain. Those at the highest level of usage is at Palm Beach State School, at 95 per cent capacity, Broadbeach State School (96 per cent) and Ormeau State School (92 per cent).
The average capacity across the Coast is 76 per cent.
A Queensland Education spokesman said more expansions were already in the pipeline as part of a $1.46 billion state school infrastructure program to ensure needs are met.
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In the run up to October’s state election, Palm Beach State School, Ormeau Woods State High School, Picnic Creek State School and Pacific Pines State High School were all promised funding for additional classrooms.
In more specialised education, Australian Industry Trade College CEO Mark Hands said he was also preparing for an increase of students from the southern states.
AITC educates people in Years 10, 11 and 12 to complete their Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) while commencing their school-based apprenticeship or traineeship.
In four years, the school has expanded from one campus in Robina to five across southeast Queensland.
“|The Gold Coast needs more schools, no doubt about it,” Mr Hands said.
“We speak with business leaders every day and they are saying that while immigration no longer exists, interstate immigration is growing.
“The Gold Coast is the centre for schools like ours, because of its appetite for entrepreneurship. Traditional schools have a place but I see more of the specialist schools growing in the future.”
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Study Gold Coast CEO Alfred Slogrove said a new university campus in northern Gold Coast would help meet projected population growth.
“It would be well positioned to work with industry high schools and pathway students into careers of the future,” he said.
“This university campus could be a dual sector campus that provides both a vocational application and pathway from TAFE Queensland and high schools as well as a higher education focus.
“It would be primely located in one of the fastest-growing locations in the country.”
Originally published as Education: At least six new private schools needed on Gold Coast as student population grows