By Lucy Carroll and Christopher Harris
Thousands of families living in Sydney’s single-sex public school zones will have the option of attending a local co-ed high school after a major overhaul of 20 catchment areas across the inner west and southern suburbs.
Under a state government plan released on Thursday, co-ed school catchments stretching from Marrickville to Menai and Bankstown will be expanded to cater for students entering year 7 from next year. Current single-sex high school intake areas will stay the same.
The changes come amid an intensifying debate over single-sex schooling, with students at Randwick Girls High continuing to fight back against a controversial decision to merge their campus with the neighbouring all-boys school.
Further plans are under way to expand more catchments across NSW, with every child in the state to have access to co-ed schooling by 2027.
Students zoned for the existing Ashfield Boys and Burwood Girls catchment will have the option of attending either Concord High, Strathfield South High or Dulwich Hill High, depending on where they live within the new intake areas.
Similarly, Canterbury Boys and Girls students will gain access to Kingsgrove North High, Kingsgrove High, Strathfield South High, Dulwich Hill High and Marrickville High.
There are 25 public school catchments in Sydney where students only have the option of a boys- or girls-only high school. Parents have long campaigned for access to co-ed alternatives, arguing limited options were forcing families to move suburbs or withdraw their children from the public school system. Families can apply for out-of-area mixed-gender schools, but they will be turned away if they are full or approaching capacity.
Education Minister Prue Car said no family should have to face leaving their local area
to access a co-educational high school. “These changes have been made in consultation with local communities to provide guaranteed access to co-educational high school education for the first time,” Car said.
The release of the re-drawn boundaries follows a community consultation and survey that was open to students, teachers and parents at 120 primary and high schools affected by the proposal.
Of the 400 respondents, just over a third said they had negative views about the co-ed catchment changes. About a quarter had mixed or neutral views, while about 40 per cent reported positive views on the plans.
The co-ed school wars have erupted across Sydney in recent years. A decision made at Cranbrook to admit girls sparked a feud between multimillionaire eastern suburbs identities, while Newington’s plans to become fully co-ed by 2033 triggered a public protest last week with parents and alumni objecting to the change.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said, for years, students in Ashfield and Canterbury High catchments in her Summer Hill electorate have had no co-educational high school options.
“Life is co-ed, and parents and students should have access to a co-ed school option,” Haylen said.
“Inner west families have been campaigning for this change for years and today our government is delivering on this important election commitment.”
A NSW Education Department spokesperson said expanding catchments at the 20 public high schools took into consideration enrolment trends, public transport access, the size and capacity of nearby co-ed high schools and the number of students living in each proposed intake area.
In September, the state government announced it would merge Randwick Boys and Girls High into a co-ed campus from 2025, prompting some students to set up an online petition campaigning to reverse the decision.
The current school captain of Randwick Girls, Ruby Borer, said the plan to force her school to merge with Randwick Boys was in stark contrast to the co-ed and single-sex options now being offered in other parts of Sydney.
Randwick Girls High School captains Ruby Borer and Chelsea Evans.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“There are a number of co-ed schools in Sydney’s east and if the same principle of overhauling the catchment zones was applied, we could retain all the options for schooling,” she said.
“We call on the government to reconsider its decision to remove choice for public schooling in the east.
“We ask for better communication about how the merge will be undertaken successfully in the very tight timeframe announced and why alternative models are not being considered to maintain and enhance education options in the east.”
Students zoned for these single sex high schools will gain access to a nearby co-ed option in 2025
- Ashfield Boys High
- Auburn Girls High
- Bankstown Girls High
- Belmore Boys High
- Beverly Hills Girls High
- Burwood Girls High
- Birrong Boys High
- Birrong Girls High School
- Canterbury Boys High
- Canterbury Girls High
- Granville Boys High
- Homebush Boys High
- James Cook Boys High
- Moorefield Girls High
- Punchbowl Boys High
- Strathfield Girls High
- Wiley Park Girls High
A NSW Education Department spokesperson said the decision to bring Randwick’s existing schools into one co-educational high school reflects the wishes of the majority of parents and carers in this community.
“Larger school populations boost the range of subjects and extracurricular opportunities available for all students. The extra investment in the schools will provide all students with the best possible learning environment,” they said.