School demountables: Which new campuses have the most portable classrooms
Brand new schools across the state have been dumped with 50 demountables, as one Sydney school opened last year has been burdened with 18 portable classrooms.
Southwest
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Fifty demountables have been dumped on to brand new schools across NSW, with one southwest Sydney primary school inundated with 18 movable classrooms to meet booming enrolment demands “squeezing students like sardines”.
Labor MLC Courtney Houssos called for the Education Minister to hand over data on the number of demountables in new schools.
NewsLocal can reveal the new Wentworth Point Public School, which opened in 2018, has been allocated six new demountables, while the Ballina Coast High School super school in the state’s north saw eight demountables added to the grounds, despite only opening to students in 2019.
The newly opened Gledswood Hills Public School in Sydney’s southwest has been burdened with the most demountables, with Education Minister Sarah Mitchell revealing a total of 18 portable classrooms had been delivered to the school.
Jordan Springs Public School — which also opened just last year — has six demountables on site.
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The report said Penshurst Public School opened just last month and already has one demountable on site, however, an Education Department spokeswoman said the school did not have a demountable on site.
While Armidale Secondary College has seen the addition of 11 demountables since it opened.
Shadow Education spokeswoman Prue Car said the dumping of demountables at new school was a “obvious and absolute failure of planning”.
“The communities that are missing out are the ones growing the most,” she said.
“These are almost brand new schools and we are seeing classes being forced to be taught in the library.
“The government approves the housing but does not plan for the schools that are needed.”
Ms Car said the government’s failure to complete Gregory Hills Public meant students from two suburbs were being forced into the new Gledswood Hills Public School.
“The government is not managing the growth and need for schools to respond to growing populations,” she said.
“They have failed communities and demountables are destroying playgrounds at a time when more and more children are living in smaller homes with even smaller backyards.”
When asked why demountables had taken over the school oval at Gledswood Hills Public in Question Time, Ms Mitchell told Labor MLC Mark Buttigieg the school “is in a growing area of Sydney and it has had a lot of interest from local families”.
Knowing that families want to send their children to the school shows that it has been a great investment in public education,” she argued.
Ms Mitchell said funding is in place to start stage two expansion plans for Gledswood Hills Public to expand the school’s capacity to up to 1,000 students.
An Education Department spokeswoman told NewsLocal demountable classrooms provided schools with “the flexibility to accommodate any fluctuation in student numbers”.
“These are modern, airconditioned rooms that provide students and teaching staff with excellent quality facilities,” she said.
The list of new schools with demountables comes as NewsLocal can reveal more than 50 schools across the state saw work to deliver new demountables on site over the Summer school holidays.
SCHOOLS WITH DEMOUNTABLES INSTALLED OVER THE SUMMER
Albion Park High School
Ballina Coast High School
Blayney High School
Bletchington Public School
Bomaderry Public School
Bonnells Bay Public School
Callaghan College Waratah Technology Campus
Campbelltown Public School
Chatswood High School
Chatswood Public School
Cheltenham Girls High School
Cherrybrook Public School
Cooranbong Public School
Cronulla High School
Dapto Public School
Edgeworth Public School
Endeavour Sports High School
Epping Boys High School
Five Islands School
Gillieston Public School
Gledswood Hills Public School
Glenbrook Public School
Glenmore Park High School
Hastings Secondary College Port Macquarie Campus
Homebush Boys High School
Jannali East Public School
John Palmer Public School
Killara High School
Kincumber High School
Kingswood Public School
Leppington Public School
Madang Avenue Public School
Maitland High School
Marsden Park Public School
Merriwa Central School
Minmi Public School
Mount Hutton Public School
Mulbring Public School
Mulwala Public School
Newtown High School of Performing Arts
Northbourne Public School
Northern Beaches Secondary College Balgowlah Boys
Nowra Hill Public School
Oakville Public School
Peel High School
Rouse Hill Public School
Ryde Secondary College
Spring Farm Public School
Strathfield South High School
Terrigal Public School
The Jannali High School
The Oaks Public School
Thornton Public School
Wee Waa High School
Werrington Public School
Wooli Public School
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