Freshwater Senior Campus: School to expand to welcome students from years 7-10
A seniors-only campus will begin welcoming students from junior grades in a significant shake-up for high schools on the northern beaches.
Manly
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A seniors-only high school on the northern beaches is to expand into a facility for students from years 7 to 12, the NSW Government announced on Thursday.
Northern Beaches Secondary College Freshwater Senior Campus (FSC), which now has 630 year 11 and 12 students, will start welcoming children in years 7 and 9 in 2026.
It will become a fully comprehensive campus for years 7–12 from term 1 in 2027, Education Minister Prue Car has revealed.
The minister also indicated that a proposal to make Balgowlah Boys and Manly Vale’s Mackellar Girls high schools co-educational would not go ahead.
The FSC transformation comes after an Education Department survey on the future of northern beaches’ high schools was conducted this year.
Parents, carers and the wider community were asked to comment on several proposals including whether the same-sex high schools should become co-educational.
Locals were also quizzed on whether FSC should expand to permit students from years 7-12.
The school, on Harbord Rd, is one of five campuses in the Northern Beaches Secondary College. Students from the other four campuses have the option of completing their senior studies at their existing campus or enrolling in FSC, which now has 630 students.
The government said the larger school would receive “upgraded facilities”.
Ms Car’s statement, released on Thursday, noted that the government made a commitment at the last election to ensure every community had access to a co-educational school.
It stated that the survey and local consultations “found strong support for co-education”.
The survey found that 74 per cent of local early childhood parents, and 68 per cent of primary school parents, preferred co-educational high schools.
It also found that the most preferred option to deliver guaranteed co-educational access was expanding FSC to years 7 to 12.
Ms Car’s statement indicated that the proposal to transform Balgowlah Boys and Mackellar Girls into co-educational schools would not proceed.
“The community was also consulted about a proposal to offer co-education at the Mackellar Girls and Balgowlah Boys campuses of NBSC, however this option was not the community’s preference,” according to the statement.
“Local consultation in each community has informed the way we are delivering on our election commitment to provide access to co-educational schooling for NSW families,” Ms Car said.
“Hundreds of families on the northern beaches will now have guaranteed access to a co-
educational high school for the first time, reducing uncertainly for parents and travel time for many families.”
In addition to infrastructure works at FSC, Balgowlah Boys would be upgraded to “address needs at the school”.
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