Public school enrolment boundaries revised

EDUCATION authorities have redrawn the enrolment boundaries for three schools as they try to better distribute booming numbers of students.

Mother and daughter leave for school. Picture: Thinkstock

• Epping West among enrolment leaders
• Epping West among schools with works due

EDUCATION authorities have redrawn the enrolment boundaries for three schools as they try to better distribute booming numbers of students.

Families hoping to enrol children at Epping Heights, Epping West and Roselea public schools were set new boundaries this year outlining the intake areas.

Popular Epping West, which has 1016 students, has had parts of its intake area ceded to the smaller neighbouring schools.

Roselea, which has the fewest students (342), has had its intake area expanded to the east and south.

School enrolment map for Roselea, Epping Heights and Epping West

Epping Heights, which has 455 students, has also taken some of Epping West’s area.

Epping West has seen a 53 per cent increase in five years and has resorted to demountables to cope with this growth.

The redrawn boundaries have resulted in some families not being able to enrol their child in their nearest school.

Families with children already at these schools and who live in rezoned areas can enrol siblings at the same school.

Epping West P&C president Ben Yee said he had not received much feedback from parents, but expected newcomers to the area would be more interested.

He said the school was growing at a rate difficult for the Department of Education to sustain, and understood the reasons for the boundary change.

“We have demountables everywhere you look. We are on a list for permanent accommodation to be built,” he said. “It’s pretty clear we need to slow down.”

The change is also expected to have affected property prices.

Richard Titmuss lives in a street no longer in the Epping West boundary.

He intended to seel his home this year but beleived there were fewer buyers due to the boundary changes.

He disagreed with the new boundaries. He said allowing children to attend their nearest school was safer, fair on parents’ time and finances, and helped parents participate in the school.

Epping Heights P and C president Alain Brix-Nielsen was more concerned about the number of homes being built at streets like Cliff Rd, Epping.

The schools would soon require more permanent buildings and facilities to cope with additional students, he said.