Daily Tele win secures Box Hill new schools after population explosion

The new schools — one primary and one secondary — will open their doors in 2028 and cater for 2000 students, with room to grow. See where the schools will be built.

The booming northwest Sydney suburb of Box Hill will get two new schools in an ­attempt to catch up to a surge in new residents, thanks to a campaign from The Daily Telegraph.

The new schools — one primary and one secondary — will open their doors in 2028 and cater for 2000 students, with room to grow.

A new school in neighbouring Gables, to also be announced by Deputy Premier Prue Car today (Friday), will open its doors on day one, term one, in 2027. The Gables school will also cater for 1000 kids.

Struggling families are also set to get more immediate relief from next year, with a “temporary” school to be built so kids can start learning from 2025.

The Box Hill primary and high schools are set to be built on Terry Rd, while the location for the Gables school is still to be determined. Preschools will also be built alongside the schools.

Rekha and Aravind Vijay are thrilled to hear Advait, 3, will have a local school to attend in two years. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Box Hill and Gables have seen a 1770 per cent increase in the number of children living in the area over just five years.

The announcement is part of a record $3.6bn spend for Western Sydney schools in this month’s budget.

Education Minister Prue Car. Picture: Gaye Gerard

The win comes after The Tele’s campaign for a new school came to a head when resident Aravind Vijay asked NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car directly when the government would build his community a new school, at The Telegraph’s Future Western Sydney event in April.

Ms Car committed to building a new school at that event, but the details were scant.

The Telegraph revealed in April that Box Hill had been left behind by successive state governments, with infrastructure spending failing to keep up with migration-driven population growth.

Part of Box Hill had grown so quickly that it became its own suburb — Gables.

Between 2016 and 2021, the population of Box Hill and Gables grew from just 902 to 6450 people, according to census data — a 615 per cent increase.

The number of kids under 14 exploded by 1770 per cent, from 152 to 2842.

The population explosion in Box Hill has far outstripped the provision of infrastructure. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s second budget, to be delivered this month, will also include more cash for further upgrades to the state’s two most populous school campuses at Riverbank Public School and The Ponds High School.

In Sydney’s southwest growth corridor, funds will be in the budget for additional primary school infrastructure for Austral and Leppington, in addition to upgrades already under way.

Ms Car said residents in Box Hill had been waiting “many years” for a new school.

“There is no way that infrastructure has kept up with population growth in areas like Box Hill,” she said.

“We’re delivering for the schools and communities who need it the most, whether that’s new communities without a local school or those who are outgrowing their existing facilities.”

Mr Vijay said he was “dumbstruck” to hear Box Hill was getting the new schools.

“It felt like a dream come true, a magical occurrence made possible with the backing of The Daily Telegraph,” he said.

“I feel relieved knowing that a school will soon be established to nurture and support our community.”

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Originally published as Daily Tele win secures Box Hill new schools after population explosion