Homebuyers will be shocked to discover they are outside the 2018 zone for top two high schools
DRAMATIC changes have been made to the catchment zones for Cheltenham Girls’ and Epping Boys High Schools from 2018, with many homeowners finding they are now outside the boundaries.
Northern District Times
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PARENTS wanting to enrol their children in two sought-after high schools may need to check they still can after intake zones were greatly reduced.
The Department of Education has announced changes to enrolments for Cheltenham Girls’ High School and Epping Boys High School from 2018 as the two schools struggle to accommodate applicants.
All children are entitled under state law to enrol at their local public school.
However, the two schools risked not being able to enrol all students in their catchment zones without the changes.
In recent years, both schools received many more applications for Year 7 places than they could accommodate.
Student intakes for Epping Boys and Cheltenham Girls’ have been capped at a stable level for years.
Epping Boys had 1159 students enrol this year (1133 in 2012), while Cheltenham Girls’ had 1243 enrolments this year (1261 in 2012).
Their Year 7 intake for this year was fixed at 180 and 210 representively, even though they received twice the number of applications.
Those who were not accepted were directed to Carlingford, Cumberland, Marsden and Hunters Hill high schools and Ryde Secondary College.
The Epping Boys catchment map, in particular, has changed dramatically for 2018.
Its zone currently takes in the whole northern district to the Parramatta River, including Hunters Hill and Gladesville.
The huge housing development precincts west of Midson Rd, Epping, and east of Lane Cove Rd, Macquarie Park, are currently not inside the zone.
The whole of Eastwood was excluded from both Epping Boys and Cheltenham Girls’ zones.
The Department of Education said the changes would mean about 80 per cent of enrolled students at these schools in 2018 would live in the intake zones.
Once local students were provided a place, children from outside the zones would be considered.
The changes are already influencing home buyers, according to Cale Property Agents Epping’s Tim Cale.
He said many people, particularly buyers of Asian heritage, were conscious of the intake zones when buying in these suburbs.
“It is a huge impact when they’ve bought in that area and the boundaries are adjusted,” he said.
“Some families just will not buy a property across the road because it’s not in their preferred school’s zone.”
He said he already knew of a family who had bought in the current zone and had a daughter starting school in 2018.
This family was already looking to move inside the revised zone, Mr Cale said.
Adjustments to the two schools’ intake zones are not the only changes made in the area this year.
Families hoping to enrol children at Epping Heights, Epping West and Roselea public schools were set new boundaries this year.
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