NSW Minister Education Sarah Mitchell launches public consultation on public high school opportunities

An eastern suburbs MP says “all options must be on the table” – including a brand new high school – as six proposals are put on the table for community consultation.

Rose Bay Secondary College, Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley

Six proposals are on the table for community consultation to determine the appetite for a new public high school in the eastern suburbs, with the options set to offer “more choice”.

The public consultation was announced in early January, with the purpose of addressing whether Randwick Boys High School and Randwick Girls High School should be merged to create a larger coeducational school.

Outgoing Vaucluse Liberal MP Gabrielle Upton said “all options must be on the table” – including a brand new public high school – if the wide-ranging consultation revealed it was necessary.

“If that [demand for a new high school] were to come out as something that was required to deliver the best possible high school education, it must be an option,” Ms Upton said.

Six proposals will be canvassed, with the most radical to establish a new, single coeducational campus at the current location by merging existing schools Randwick Boys High School and Randwick Girls High School.

Minister Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell, Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton and Liberal candidate Kellie Sloane at a visit to Rose Bay Secondary College. Photo credit office of Gabrielle Upton.

Other options on the table are to retain single-sex education at Randwick Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools, and to provide all local students an entitlement to enrol at an existing coeducational high school, or establish more shared classes from years 7-12.

The review follows a similar investigation into the issue of public school choice in 2018, when then Coogee Liberal MP Bruce Notley-Smith proposed using a $3.7 million budget investment for a high school merger. The plans were rejected by the Department of Education following mixed feedback.

Randwick Boys High School at Randwick in Sydney.

Randwick Girls High School.

While two thirds of the 2226 people surveyed supported the merger proposed in 2018, the Education Department said those who opposed the change were “most directly impacted”, including parents and carers of girls attending Randwick Girls’, the Randwick Girls’ High School executive staff and P & C.

The Education Department has maintained, based on current population projections, existing local schools can accommodate current and future student demand.

Education and Early Learning Minister Sarah Mitchell said she had met with the principals of the six eastern suburbs public high schools and school communities will be invited to participate in a series of workshops and online surveys in March to plan the road map for the next few years.

Rose Bay Secondary College, Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley.

Ms Mitchell said the consultation has two aims.

“One is to determine the factors behind the high school enrolment choices made by parents in the eastern suburbs peninsula,” she said.

“The second is to obtain feedback on the proposals we’re putting on the table relating to the delivery of local coeducational opportunities,” she said.

Coogee Liberal candidate Dr Kylie von Muenster welcomed the project’s emphasis “on families of potential future students”.

Vaucluse Liberal candidate Kellie Sloane said “choice in education” was important and that parents must weigh in to ensure higher education met their family’s needs.

Following consultation, a report will be finalised for consideration by the government in mid-2023.