Mater Maria Catholic College: Warriewood school wants to increase student numbers
A northern beaches’ high school is pushing to increase student numbers, but its neighbours are not impressed.
Manly
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A popular northern beaches’ high school has applied to increase the maximum number of students it can enrol by 250.
Mater Maria Catholic College at Warriewood asked authorities to boost the school’s official enrolment from 850 to 1100 — a jump of close to 30 per cent.
Its principal, Marc Reicher, told the Manly Daily that the application was lodged with Northern Beaches Council to address the demand from parents wanting their children to attend the coeducational school.
“We have seen increasing demand over the past five years and currently receive significantly more applications for enrolment than we have spaces to offer,” Mr Reicher said on Friday.
The council has been advised the school was already operating above the approved maximum student number, with approximately 1040 enrolments in 2021.
Mr Reicher said the school does not want to expand its physical footprint and has told the council it already has room and facilities to accommodate 1100 students.
Mater Maria does wants a flexible condition to allow for fluctuation in student numbers without the need for subsequent development or modification applications to the council.
“We would like to think that the increased demand is a result of the good reputation of the school in the local community and parents seeking a Catholic coeducational experience for their children,” Mr Reicher said.
But a number of residents living near the college have lodged submissions with the council complaining that an increase in student numbers would add to traffic delays and parking problems in surrounding streets.
Because more than 10 public submissions have been received by the council, the assessment of the enrolment increase application has to be handled by the independent Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel which meets to examine the issue next week.
In its Assessment Report, the council stated that the college did not provide any parking within school grounds for students and relied on the availability of kerbside parking in nearby streets.
In her submission local Jo-Anne Stanning wrote that the school was already operating above its approved capacity and “I have no doubt it will go above and beyond 1100 students”.
“Traffic at drop off and pick up is horrific and it is nearly impossible to access our private driveways due to cars parked illegally across our driveways.
“During school term there is no public parking available in any surrounding streets due to students parking all day, even in the 4 hour limited parking which the council does not police.”
Mr Reicher said the school had received the “occasional complaint or concern from local residents in regard to traffic”.
“We have undergone extensive traffic reviews and implemented plans to ensure minimal impact on the neighbourhood.”
The school has proposed that at the start of each school year, it must submit to the council, the number of students enrolled for the current calendar year and the number of enrolments for the previous calendar year.
It suggested that the number of students may increase if the school provided an updated traffic and pedestrian management plan to reflect the increased number of students and an updated bushfire evacuation plan.
Any additional increase in students would require development consent by the council.
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