NSW public school enrolments continue to decline in favour of private education

The NSW public school system is haemorrhaging its share of the state’s students, with new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing government school enrolments have fallen by 0.6 per cent.

Satisfied mum Olivia Sindoni, with her children Christiano, Adriano and Juliano at Oran Park Anglican College. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

The NSW public school system is haemorrhaging its share of the state’s students, with new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing government school enrolments have fallen by 0.6 per cent.

Despite the number of students in NSW growing by an overall 0.6 per cent between 2022 and 2023, the private school population grew by 2.6 per cent, with Catholic and independent schools now education more than 37 per cent of the state’s students.

The new figures mark a historic low for public schools, and an all-time high for private schools who say parents are voting with their feet for an education that makes discipline and “values-based education” worth paying for.

In the year 2000, nearly 70 per cent of students were enrolled in public schools, while 17.4 per cent of students went to systemic Catholic schools and just 13.1 per cent attended independent and other Catholic schools.

Oran Park Anglican College principal Naomi Wilkins. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Over the last decade, Oran Park Anglican College in Sydney’s booming southwest growth corridor has evolved from being one of the area’s limited choices for parents, to the first choice for those unwilling to cram their kids into the few local public schools with hundreds – or thousands – of others.

Despite charging a touch over $9000 in annual fees, the K-12 school’s population has grown by 27 per cent in the last year alone, and principal Naomi Wilkins said there are several families who have crossed over from the public system.

“For a lot of them, it is because the public schools are so big. They can have a dozen classes per grade, and they don’t want their child to just be a number,” she said.

Mum Olivia Sindoni said “you pay for what you get”. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mum of three Olivia Sindon initially sent her two eldest sons to a local primary school before making the switch to Oran Park Anglican College)

“There were 350 kids in a grade at their old school, there were no library books, no home readers, no homework, they just didn’t have the resources,” Ms Sindon said.

“We had no idea what to expect at (Oran Park Anglican College) but when we went in they were so welcoming, so many curricular activities for the kids … you pay for what you get, yes we pay a lot of money for our kids to go to a private school but the support we get from the teachers is amazing.”

Silvana and Andy Youkhana with their children Chloe and Lucas. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Silvanna and Andy Youkhana said it was the College’s religious values – and an easier drop-off and pick-up – that prompted them to send their three kids, Year 7 student Jordan, 11-year-old Chloe and eight-year-old Lucas to the school, having originally enrolled the youngest two at Cecil Hills Public School.

“One of my observations is the quality of the teachers is a lot higher, and there’s a lot more consistency,” Mr Youkhana said.

“It’s also a smaller school in terms of its population, so you grow with the community and the kids get a different quality of friendships.”