Like many other parents in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Andrew Mencinsky paid to put his children’s names down on waitlists at numerous private schools.
“We had to go through the rigmarole, you have to sign them up when they’re young, at five or six schools, and pay the registration fees,” he said.
Andrew Mencinsky and his wife Stephanie with children Luca, 10, Christian 8, and Olena, 6, outside their home.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Their schooling will follow a typical pattern in the area: public for primary before switching to private for secondary. He doesn’t believe independent schools are superior but the kind of school he had in mind – a comprehensive, co-educational state school – would be a challenge. Their local, Rose Bay Secondary College, is oversubscribed.
Mencinsky’s children attend Glenmore Road Public in Paddington, where some of their classmates will go on to high-fee private schools. He does not want to send his children to a school where they will encounter a world of extreme wealth, noting some school campuses are replete with hyperbaric chambers and Scottish baronial replica castles.
“I cannot accept that a child who goes through those schools can come out without a distorted perspective about what life is like for the majority of people,” he said.
But sending them to a public comprehensive is not so easy. In the eastern suburbs and inner city, six public comprehensives are outnumbered by about 20 private schools.
“We have made the decision to look outside the eastern suburbs for high school education as there were no suitable public options or desirable private options, and our eldest son is starting at St Aloysius [in Kirribilli] in year 5 next year.”
In the Wentworth electorate, 55 per cent of students attend private schools, the highest of any federal electorate in the nation, an Association of Independent Schools report this year said.
The provision of public schools is a state government responsibility but federal Wentworth MP Allegra Spender has taken up the cause with gusto to stop families leaving the area.
“There is still a real push from the community about the desire for a co-ed public high school, particularly in the context of the really high fees in our local private schools,” Spender said.
Independent MPs Alex Greenwich and Allegra Spender are calling for a long-term plan to expand public education in the eastern suburbs.Credit: Louie Douvis
Median private school fees in the Wentworth electorate stand at about $29,000. The top end hits $50,000.
Spender collaborated with architect Adam Swinburn to create a proposal for the Edgecliff Centre – a much-derided 1970s eyesore set to be redeveloped – that would see it used as a school.
It is just a hypothetical plan, but one that should be taken seriously, says Spender, who believes it is one of the few available school sites available. Another is Waverley bus depot.
The Edgecliff school would form part of a bigger structure, including apartments and retail, which could help fund the school.
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said the proposal shows what is possible when someone applies out-of-the-box thinking and modern design principles to public education infrastructure.
“Now we need the NSW government and treasury to be open-minded and allow for a private-public partnership model to deliver a much-needed public high school to the east,” he said.
Architect Adam Swinburn collaborated with Allegra Spender to create a reference scheme for a future urban Australian school. The design is intended to create a school to accomodate 1320 students.Credit: Adam Swinburn
NSW Labor promised the eastern suburbs a new co-ed high school before the 2023 state election. Education Minister Prue Car told Sky News in November 2022 she would not be closing single-sex schools if Labor took power and promised the eastern suburbs a new co-ed high school.
Then, after winning government, Labor announced it would shut down two single-sex schools, Randwick Boys and Randwick Girls, to create a co-ed school.
The design idea for the new school at Edgecliff, which would be located above the existing railway station.Credit: Adam Swinburn
Asked why she did the opposite of what she promised by shutting down the single-sex schools, Car said: “The comprehensive consultation process in the Randwick community showed strong support for co-education, particularly among parents of future students.”
There has been a 38 per cent increase in year 7 enrolments for Randwick High School in 2025 compared with the previous year.
The Herald asked local Labor MP Dr Marjorie O’Neill if she still supported another co-ed school being built.
“I support increased co-ed public high school access for local families, with greater choice and to ensure all students can access an education that meets their needs, including the creation of the new co-education public high school in Randwick,” she said.
Spender said she had discussed the Edgecliff plans with Car and School Infrastructure NSW, which builds new schools.
“They told us that they believe the priorities are in other parts of Sydney – but they haven’t provided clear data on how they reached that conclusion,” she said.
“NSW Labor seems content to rely on parents in the east paying tens of thousands of dollars each year in private school fees.”
While the government might not see the urgent need for another school, Sydney Catholic Schools, whose schools charge about $7000 a year, is considering opening new schools in the east.
“While we don’t have a comment on site or school-specific plans at this time, Sydney Catholic Schools is continually exploring opportunities to meet the growing demand for our schools across the archdiocese. This is especially true in the eastern suburbs,” a spokesman said.
Licia Heath from CLOSEast, a group that lobbied the government to build Surry Hills’ Inner Sydney High School, said she was also told by bureaucrats back then that there was no need for a school, but suddenly a new school was announced. She said, five years after opening, it is now full of students.
“There is an illusion of choice when it comes to secondary education in the east,” she said.
Heath said there was a perception that the eastern suburbs was full of harbourside mansions but in reality it is full of apartments, single parents and families who need educational options.
“I get approached twice a week on the need for improved public education resources in this area – from the need for a new school to the need for upgraded infrastructure to the need for more qualified maths teachers in our schools.”
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