By Lucy Carroll
The NSW government has shelved plans for new schools earmarked for St Leonards and Chatswood as thousands of new homes are set to be delivered in the area under transport-oriented rezoning reforms.
Initial plans for new lower north shore schools were flagged by the former government in 2021, when funding was set aside for early planning of an education precinct at St Leonards and a new Chatswood public primary school.
How density might double: An artist’s impression of masterplans and rezonings finalised for TOD-accelerated precincts.
Deputy secretary of School Infrastructure NSW, Lisa Harrington, told a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday that changing enrolment demand meant there was no “urgent need” for a new primary at St Leonards.
“From when the project was first announced… we have seen a change in enrolment demand in terms of our projections,” she said. “Almost every school in the Chatswood-Willoughby area has had an upgrade in the past 10 years, so there’s a lot of capacity at existing schools.”
Harrington said there was no “service need demand for [a new St Leonards] high school at this stage” but noted demand would need to be watched as planning reforms deliver higher density housing around train stations, including at Crows Nest, where 3255 new homes are set to be built.
Crows Nest is one of eight “accelerated” transport-oriented developments [TOD] where homes will be built within the St Leonards Centre and along the Pacific Highway to the Crows Nest metro rail station.
“We have the Crows Nest TOD coming, so we are looking really closely at the service need analysis for that area,” Harrington said.
Education officials also confirmed there were no plans to pursue a new Chatswood public school.
Instead, the government has committed to building eight new schools by 2027, the bulk in Sydney’s outer north and south-west suburbs where enrolments have soared in low-fee private schools and the public system has struggled to meet demand driven by an influx of families to outer suburbs.
A new high school will be built in Schofields in the north-west, near mega-sized The Ponds High, which is running at double its enrolment capacity.
Upgrades are planned for 23 schools including Cammeray Public and Northbridge Public, where permanent classrooms will replace demountables.
In 2021, the former NSW Coalition government allocated more than $7 million for early plans for a St Leonards education precinct and a new Chatswood primary school.
A TAFE campus on the lower north shore was short-listed as a site for the St Leonards education precinct, while the former Chatswood Metro dive site on the corner of Mowbray Road and Pacific Highway was earmarked for a new Chatswood primary school.
Late last year, the department declared Cammeraygal High School in Crows Nest was full and families in that area would be redirected to Mosman High.
A NSW Education Department spokesperson said that over the past decade, more than 10 public schools in the Chatswood, St Leonards, Willoughby and the north Sydney area have been upgraded, which have added capacity for 6700 more students.
Chatswood Public is among the northern Sydney schools to have recently received an upgrade.Credit: Steven Siewert
Planning is continuing for a potential future education precinct at St Leonards, the spokesperson confirmed.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said that in planning for schools in Sydney’s north, “the government will not be taking advice from a Liberal Party whose legacy is closing schools such as Milsons Point Public School and Crows Nest Boys High School”.
But opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell said with plans for more than 3000 new homes in Crows Nest, “it would be reasonable to expect even more families will be moving into the area”.
“It’s extraordinary that the Minns Labor government is walking away from new school projects in Chatswood and St Leonards,” she said. “You would think the government would be charging ahead with school builds near their TODs, not cutting them.
The NSW government has committed to completing 31 primary and high school projects by the first term of 2027, with those plans detailed in internal departmental files. All new schools are slated to be finished in January 2027.
“Alongside these projects, the department is supporting growing communities with the enrolment growth audit … to ensure families in fast-growing areas have timely access to high-quality public schools,” the documents state.
On Tuesday, the Herald reported that a Stockland proposal to build a 50-storey apartment with retail on the Pacific Highway in St Leonards was one among 18 housing projects fast-tracked by the state government’s new planning authority.
The city’s north shore is home to multiple high fee private schools and public schools including the existing Chatswood Public have recently had major upgrades.
Chatswood High School is at capacity while the latest figures show the existing Chatswood public primary school has space for about 150 more students.
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