Parents call for new eastern suburbs high school and more classrooms after figures show schools are overcrowded
FIGURES obtained by the State Opposition showed 10 of the 16 schools in Wentworth Courier’s patch in the eastern suburbs were at or well above full capacity. Parents want something done.
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Parents have urged the State Government to provide more classrooms and start planning for a new high school after figures showed several eastern suburbs schools were among the most overcrowded in NSW.
Figures obtained by the State Opposition showed 10 of the 16 schools in Wentworth Courier’s patch were at or well above full capacity. Out of schools with five or more classrooms, Bourke St Public School was the fifth most cramped in the state at 145 per cent.
Parents have spoken out about schools being forced to give up dedicated music and art rooms to be used as regular classrooms, split assemblies and using temporary dividing walls to create more rooms as they try to cope with the rapid growth in enrolments.
Yesterday Education Minister Adrian Piccoli agreed to set up a meeting between concerned parents, the department and local MPs after figures showed there had been a whopping 22 per cent increase in enrolments in the Waverley LGA since 2012 — the largest in Sydney.
Bondi Public School, where the number of students has skyrocketed by 706 per cent from 75 in 2006 to 605 this year, was the seventh most cramped at 141 per cent.
Bondi Public P & C president Camille Usher said parents were worried the school would not be able to cope with an influx of families moving into the area including into “The Moreton” 191-unit development across the road.
“I don’t think anyone predicted the growth we have experienced over the last five years but we are full and that’s the simple fact,” Ms Usher said.
“The changing demographic of Bondi has seen lots more families moving into the area.”
Ms Usher wants the top level of a building on the school site, currently being used for the Department of Education for administration purposes, to be converted into classrooms.
The P & C successfully campaigned to claim back the bottom level about three years ago but Ms Usher believes the whole building would be needed “sooner rather than later”.
Bondi Beach Public School has grown by 189 per cent from 207 in 2006 to 599 this year and is at 104 per cent capacity.
It’s P & C president Robert Keldoulis said they were forced to hold split assemblies because their population had doubled since their school hall was built about five years ago under the Building Education Revolution program.
Mr Keldoulis said they had lost dedicated rooms for music and art to make way for more students.
“Now the music teacher has to store instruments in cupboards all over the school and then lug it around to different classrooms,” he said.
“We used to have a dedicated art room which is now used for a mix of after school care, music and art which next year will be a dedicated classroom so we will lose that too.
“We are totally cramped.”
Mr Keldoulis said the department has claimed the school was not full because an open plan learning space, which was built using funds raised by the P & C, could be used for two classrooms.
“It is a band aid solution to carve into this 21st century learning space which is used by the kids for debating, drama and public speaking,” he said.
He wants the department to enter into a public/private partnership with the P & C to deliver a new seven-classroom building on the existing school site.
The P & C is willing to kick in half the funding if the department lets them take the reigns in the design and the delivery of the project to reduce costs and deliver it more quickly.
“We need to get building works underway to factor in the reality that we need to future proof the school for between 800 and 1000 kids.”
He feared Rose Bay Secondary College, which takes the Bondi students, would be full by the end of 2017 as a growing number of year six students come through the ranks.
Licia Heath, eastern campaign leader for Community for Local Options for Secondary Education, said the eastern suburbs had suffered combined factors of public high school closures, increasing student numbers and mass approvals for high density residential projects.
“Most of the public primary schools are running at or over capacity and the State government has admitted this and provided extra funding for some schools in the east to help cope with numbers,” Ms Heath said.
“What’s largely missing from the debate is the knock-on effect this will have for the current public secondary schools in the area and the crisis that’s facing their already squeezed enrolments.
“Planning needs to start now for a new public high school in the eastern suburbs.”
Rose Bay Secondary College is the only state high school in Wentworth Courier’s area. The Vaucluse Boys High School site was sold in 2011 to make way for the Mark Moran retirement precinct.
Both Bondi presidents called on Mr Piccoli to visit their schools to see the overcrowding for himself.
Mr Piccoli would not himself be present but was arranging a meeting between a delegate from the department, Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton, Coogee MP Bruce Notley-Smith and parents at Bondi Beach to discuss their proposal.
He said the State Government had committed more than $60 million to capital projects in the eastern suburbs.
But no classrooms were being added at Bondi schools.
A NSW Department of Education spokesman said work was continuing to increase Bellevue Hill Public’s capacity from 600 to 1000 students by late 2017, which would relieve pressure on the Bondi schools.
“Accordingly there are currently no plans to convert existing spaces at either school into additional learning spaces,” he said.
A new hall, outdoor learning area and two new classrooms were being built at Bourke St.
“Nearby public high schools currently have spare capacity for additional enrolments,” he said.
“The new Inner Sydney High School on Cleveland St and the upgrade of Alexandria Community School will also provide additional secondary school capacity in the area.”
Upgrades were also being carried out at schools in the eastern suburbs outside Wentworth Courier’s patch at Rainbow Street Public, Randwick Public and Ultimo Public.
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