Marsden Park Public School set to be temporary demountable facility
A northwest Sydney public school set to open next year will be a pop-up demountable facility, with no date in sight for a long-promised high school to be built in the booming suburb.
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It is the booming northwest Sydney suburb suffering from a major education crisis, but demands for new, permanent schooling facilities in Marsden Park continued to be delayed.
The State Government has revealed the long promised Marsden Park Public School — scheduled to be opened to students this year — will actually be a temporary demountable facility when classes start in term one, 2021.
A permanent, $55 million facility will be built around it.
The government recently fast-tracked plans to open the new school in Northbourne Dr, Marsden Park next year, in an effort to deal with overcapacity issues at the current school reaching 286 per cent.
However, planning documents obtained by Shadow Education spokeswoman Prue Car revealed a temporary, pop-up facility would be built on land earmarked for the school’s sporting field “to accommodate a maximum of 500 students at any given time”.
Ms Car told NewsLocal residents in Sydney’s fastest growing residential development precinct “desperately needed basic infrastructure like this school to be completed”.
“The current Marsden Park Public School have gone from 50 to 400 enrolments in a few years and current teaching staff and facilities cannot cope,” she said.
“This pop-up demountable school is evidence of poor planning from the NSW Government sitting in the middle of the Elara Estate.”
Meanwhile, residents have joined growing calls for the Marsden Park High School, promised 16 months ago at the NSW State Elections, to be fast-tracked.
Ms Car said there was no timeline for the school’s completion, calling out the Education Department’s lack of action at the site.
“We have seen this all before in the Jordan Springs estate in Penrith,” she said. “Unfortunately for the residents of Elara, it could take years before students walk through the front gate.”
Pierce Rochford, has two children at the current Marsden Park Public School, which has been swamped with hundreds of new students and is “struggling to cope”.
“Our school is now completely overwhelmed,” he said. “We want to see the infrastructure planned out properly, budgeted and on the books.
“We need a date for the high school to be built, because there has been no real commitment from the government — we are seeing first hand that these projects get delayed, much like the new Marsden Park Primary School.”
While another Marsden Park resident, Libby Clarke, said she was fearful her young children wouldn’t have a local high school to go to in several years time.
“You would think that having a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and 2-year-old, you wouldn’t be worried about a lack of high school facilities right now,” she said. “But being on the Parents and Citizens at the current Marsden Park Public School and seeing the issues and delays that we are constantly dealing with for the new primary school, it is clear we need a plan of action for the high school now.
“If residents don’t push the government these schools take too long, there are thousands of new people moving into these communities and there is no budget for the school.”
An Education Department spokesman promised the $55 million Northbourne Dr, public school would see classrooms open next year, however, acknowleged students would be learning in a temporary pop-up school, “while the permanent facilities are built”.
“The new primary school will greatly benefit the community by delivering 40 new permanent classrooms accommodating up to 1000 students,” the spokesman said.
“The school will also include staff and administration facilities, a hall, a library, and a covered outdoor learning area.
“All kindergarten to Year 6 students in the new school’s catchment can begin at the new school on Day 1, Term 1, 2021.”
The spokesman said early planning for the new high school at Marsden Park was also underway, but did not commit to calls to fast-track the development.
“In addition to the new primary and high schools at Marsden Park, other projects include a new primary school to be delivered in the Tallawong area, the construction of a new primary school for Alex Ave on Farmland Drive, Schofields, and the recent completion of an upgrade at Riverstone High School, which provided 12 new permanent teaching spaces.”