Northern Beaches Secondary College Freshwater Senior Campus ‘very angry’ over Year 7-10 expansion

2GB host Ben Fordham has slammed a student walkout as “first world problems” as hundreds of furious high schoolers left their classrooms in a bid to save their senior campus.

Hundreds of furious high schoolers walked out of their classrooms on Friday morning in a last-ditch bid to save their school.

Just after 10am, Year 11 and 12 students of the NBSC Freshwater campus took the action to protest against changes proposed by the state government which would see the senior campus add Years 7 to 10 and become a full high school.

The students at the school in Sydney’s northern beaches are pleading with Education Minister Prue Car to hear them out, after it was announced the school would expand to include students in the junior years 7-10, starting as early as next year.

The walkout was slammed on Sydney radio king Ben Fordham’s show on Friday morning as “first world problems”.

Freshwater High student protests on Friday. Picture: Supplied

Students want to protect the school’s “mature environment”. Picture: Supplied

Year 11 student Sophie and her mum called into the radio show to explain that students were “sending a message to the Department of Education that we are against the changes”.

Fordham cut the interview short, describing the issue as “a storm in a teacup”.

“Grow up,” he said highlighting that the students in Year 12 protesting on Friday wouldn’t be there when the changes came into place.

“Wow … first world problems eat your heart out,” he said.

The decision to dissolve one of only 15 public schools catering specifically to HSC and vocational education students, to fulfil the government’s election promise to expand access to coeducational schooling to every family in the state, has left the Freshwater community reeling.

This morning, students chanted “save our school” and “save Freshie” as they deserted their desks.

Parents from the school community revealed they are seriously disgruntled with the lack of consultation from the government about the proposal.

Jessica, a parent still fairly new to the school community, said the DNA of the school would be “ripped out” by the proposed change.

“I’ve seen massive changes in my kid in the limited time he’s been there,” she said.

“You’re not just changing the structure of the school, you’d lose what the school is for these kids.”

Tracy Redwood, a Year 11 parent at NBSC said the money it would take to incorporate years 7 to 10 would be better used elsewhere.

“We came from another public co-ed school that could probably use the money the government would spend on turning the senior campus into a full high school,” she said.

“I didn’t value the senior campus until my child came here, it’s so special and unique and there’s a huge need for it.”

While only 183 current students responded to the Department of Education’s consultation survey in August last year, 96.65 per cent rated the proposal “unacceptable or “completely unacceptable”, as did almost 90 per cent of the 97 parents surveyed.

The captains say their school model should be ‘replicated, not erased’. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Outraged that their feedback during the consultation process went unacknowledged, students have resorted to staging a rally outside the school gates on Harbord Rd from 10am on Friday, and will refuse to return to class for over an hour.

Year 12 school captains Sebastian Rayel and Sophie Rawstorne, both 17, were among those fronting up for the older contingent, but said Year 11 students were the ones leading the charge to protect the school from losing its “mature environment”.

“They’re obviously very angry, and rightfully so,” Sophie said.

“We’re fighting for it now because this is the first time it’s been threatened,” Sebastian, who moved to Freshwater from a private school, added.

The pair believe up to 500 students will join them in “respectfully and safely” calling on the government to reconsider the plan, or “at the absolute minimum … hold off until 2027”.

“This school is a place that has saved children’s lives – their educational lives and their mental lives … this is a school that should be replicated, and not erased,” Sebastian said.

“They (the Department of Education) should focus on why students are applying to come here and not the other (northern beaches) schools, rather than ruining this one for the sake of ‘equity’,” said Sophie.

“The rest of the community are paying the price too; it’s going to cost thousands, maybe millions of dollars.”

It comes amid an exodus from the public education system, with NSW government-run schools’ share of enrolments declining for the fifth year in a row.

The decision to “fix what isn’t broken” has both mystified and infuriated mum Liz Nable, who was one of the many parents to move her daughter from a private school to Freshwater for a “fresh start” this year, joining other like-minded students who “are passionate about their learning”.

Teachers, students and parents alike were “blindsided” by the announcement in December last year she said, caught off guard by a move that Ms Nable claimed would cost the Department of Education far more than simply expanding the catchment areas for existing coeducational schools.

The Forest High School for example, which is being rebuilt on a new site at Allambie Heights, was currently operating at 50 per cent of its 1500-student future capacity, she argued.

A March 2022 picture of mould in a toilet cubicle in a girls’ bathroom at the Manly Selective Campus of the Northern Beaches Secondary College. Freshwater Campus families say the money being spent on their school would be better spent upgrading others in the network.

“The other schools need the funding, and Freshie is the only one that doesn’t need it … the (school) that works is the one they want to dismantle,” Ms Nable said.

Education Minister Prue Car defended the decision, which she said was “the most preferred option” from a “comprehensive consultation process”.

The minister said the “sincere feedback” was appreciated, but did not respond to a series of questions from The Daily Telegraph, including whether a delay until 2027 would be considered.

“When the Department of Education considers a co-ed option for an area they consult with the local community to understand what works best for each area,” she said.

“We appreciate the sincere feedback being shared by current students and families and we are committed to working with them throughout this process.”

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]

Originally published as Northern Beaches Secondary College Freshwater Senior Campus ‘very angry’ over Year 7-10 expansion