The Victorian schools where enrolments are plummeting
Inner suburban school campuses in Melbourne have experienced some of the biggest drop in student enrolments over the past decade. This is why. See how your school compares.
Education
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A Victorian school had just one student last year as some campuses lost more than 600 pupils in a decade.
The schools facing the greatest enrolment decline have been revealed, with small regional campuses suffering the biggest falls.
Noorinbee Primary, near Cann River in Gippsland, had a single student enrolled for 2018, figures from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority show.
The tiny school was the Victorian campus ranked most in decline, despite going from only six students in 2013 to one last year.
But when excluding schools with fewer than 100 students, inner-city campuses were among those with the biggest falls as some dropped more than half their student population in a decade.
They included St Bridget’s School in Balwyn North, from 157 students in 2008 to 56 last year; Vermont’s St Timothy’s School, from 168 students to 79; and St Helena’s Plenty Valley International Montessori School, down from 165 to 50.
ACARA figures also showed the numbers behind the government’s contentious decision to merge four public Shepparton high schools into one super school.
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The collective enrolment of Shepparton High, McGuire College, Mooroopna and Wanganui Park fell by 800 students in a decade to just over 2500 last year.
Schools that lost more than 600 students in a decade included Lyndhurst Secondary, Ballarat Secondary, Wangaratta High, Oberon High and Brauer Secondary.
Schools without enough students to run a campus can lay dormant but still be owned and maintained by the government.
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Those schools can be “de-staffed” and remain unused — sometimes for several years — before the population rises again.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said the department “does not close schools” — rather, school councils made decisions on closures or mergers.
However, there were minimum enrolment requirements of 20 pupils for a school to run, or 11 students for schools outside Melbourne, beyond an urban centre or for specialist schools.
High schools must also have 10 or more students in each year level.
If schools don’t satisfy those requirements, they must apply for an exemption to the Victorian Registration Qualifications Authority.
“There are more than 1,500 government schools across the state,” the Department spokeswoman said.
“There can be a significant variation between schools and the student population.”
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