Project Sydney: Apartment boom set to flood schools with thousands of extra students

EXCLUSIVE: SYDNEY’S apartment boom in western growth corridors will need more than 50 new schools to accommodate a huge flood of students, including 33 in Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula.

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THE apartment boom in western growth corridors will mean more than 50 new schools are needed to cater for a huge surge in students over the next two decades.

Figures crunched by The Daily Telegraph reveal that in the pivotal Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula urban renewal zone alone 33 new schools will be needed to match infrastructure in the city’s east.

In Sydney’s northwest, where the population is growing rapidly and major commuter rail links are underway, the Hills Shire Council predicts a further 13 schools — 10 primary and three secondary — will need to be built, according to economic and planning forecasts

And it will take an additional five schools to service the 18,000 new homes in Box Hill, Rouse Hill and Kellyville, the council’s general manager Michael Edgar said yesterday.

The government has plans to build more high-quality, state-of-the-art schools. Picture: Craig Greenhill

The startling figures come amid a population boom in the area and a huge house building push spearheaded by the state government.

Across NSW at least 164,000 extra students are expected in government schools by 2031. A spokesman for the NSW Department of Education said 32 new or relocated public schools had been funded, with a further 67 major upgrade projects announced since 2011.

“The Department of Education has undertaken extensive planning to meet unprecedented enrolment growth across NSW,” the spokesman said.

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Education Minister Rob Stokes said the government had plans to build more high-quality, state-of-the-art schools.

“Our schools should be impressive-looking ... we want to build heritage buildings for the future and they should look amazing,” Mr Stokes said. “We want our (public) schools to be the heart and soul of the community.”

Education Minister Rob Stokes with Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Bennett Rd Public School, Colyton.

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But parents, Labor and the NSW Teachers’ Federation claim it is not nearly enough.

Senior research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Dr Paul Weldon said Sydney had been “caught by surprise” by the boom after 10 to 15 years of average to slow growth.

“In the short term we will see class sizes increase to 26 and 27 students but it cannot be maintained,” he said. “Schools will have to look at whether enrolment will allow for an extra class of kids which in turn means one more teacher and one more physical classroom.”

A new SGS economics and planning report reveals the Greater Parramatta and Olympic Peninsula growth corridor will need at least 57 schools overall — up from the current 24 — by 2041.

In Parramatta, where schools are already stretched to capacity, 46,000 new dwellings are expected to be built by 2026. This will require 31 new primary schools and 10 high schools to cope with demand.