By Lucy Carroll and Nigel Gladstone
One of Sydney’s highest-performing north shore public schools has topped 2000 students for the first time, breaching its enrolment cap less than two years after undergoing a multimillion-dollar campus overhaul.
A snapshot of enrolment data obtained by the Herald reveals student numbers at Chatswood High have swelled to 2106 this year, making it the second-biggest public school in the state behind The Ponds High.
But while dozens of public schools in north and south-west growth areas are bursting at the seams, almost 350 state schools have space for hundreds more students and more than 100 public schools are sitting half empty.
Public primary schools have suffered the brunt of sharp enrolment losses in the past five years, driven by an exodus of young families priced out of inner-city suburbs and private schools picking up more students across Sydney.
In The Hills Shire, Camden and Hornsby – where new housing developments are drawing families from across the city – more than 40 per cent of public schools exceed their enrolment cap by more than 100 students each.
In contrast, seven council areas – Strathfield, Waverley, Burwood, Woollahra, Mosman, Hunters Hill and Lane Cove – have no public schools above their cap.
Chatswood High School enrolled 2100 students this year, doubling its student population in 15 years.Credit: Janie Barrett
Enrolments have collapsed by 60 per cent or more at dozens of public primary schools in the past five years, including at Bondi Beach, Paddington, Gladesville, Strathfield South, Birchgrove, Coogee, Parramatta, Castle Cove and Mona Vale.
Strathfield South Public and Bondi Beach Public both lost at least 250 students less in five years; Mona Vale Public more than 400.
In the Northern Beaches, eastern suburbs, Inner West and north shore, about 15,000 fewer students attend public schools compared with five years ago.
However, in the city’s booming north and south-west outskirts new schools built a few years ago are full or overcrowded.
In the north-west, which recorded the fastest student population growth last year, Riverbank Public is 1000 students over its cap. At nearby Schofields Public, where half of pupils are in demountables, enrolments have broken through the 1100 mark.
It is a similar picture at Oran Park High which has eclipsed 1600 students just five years after opening.
The data also reveals three sought-after secondary schools – The Ponds High, Chatswood High and Cherrybrook Technology High – have surpassed 2000 students each this year.
Chatswood High, which is partially selective and a top performer in the HSC, has doubled enrolments in 15 years and is now 240 students over its enrolment ceiling.
Enrolment caps were introduced in 2019 and are based on the capacity of a school’s permanent buildings. The policy aimed to redirect families to underused schools and stop principals poaching desirable students from other schools to bolster under-enrolled campuses.
Oran Park High in Sydney’s south-west opened in 2020 and has almost 1600 students.Credit: James Brickwood
President of Chatswood High P&C Steven Romanous said parents are attracted to the school’s sports and academics programs, creative arts and new classrooms. “The school has good results, so I think people want to move into the area to be in the catchment.”
The metro has boosted accessibility, he says, while the north shore’s construction boom has brought more families to the area.
The NSW Education Department declined the Herald’s request to interview the new principal at Chatswood High, Robin Chand, who recently took on the job after 17 years at Killara High.
Killara, one of the state’s top-performing comprehensive schools, grew by 126 students this year to almost 1800, putting it over its cap. Overcrowding is being compounded by catchment changes, with plans to rezone part of Killara’s catchment to fall into the “alternative learning” school, Lindfield Learning Village, which has space for 500 more students.
The NSW government says it has upgraded 10 north shore schools in the past decade adding capacity for 6700 more students.
About $250 million was spent upgrading Chatswood primary and high schools, which were completed in late 2023. “Population growth in the area has led to an increase in enrolments with families choosing Chatswood High over private school options,” the department said in 2020.
Plans for new schools earmarked for St Leonards and Chatswood were ditched this year, with education officials citing “no urgent” need for new campuses in the area.
At Cammeraygal High in Crows Nest, local students are being turned away and the school’s cap was slashed by 100 pupils this year.
Schools including Inner Sydney High, Chatswood, Glenwood High have grown by more than 100 students this year. High schools with declines in numbers include Pittwater High, Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School and Dulwich Hill High.
The NSW Education Department does not collect centralised data on why families leave public schools or run exit interviews with parents or students.
The principal of Oran Park High, Brad Mitchell, said it “was clear for a long time” there was demand for a school in the sprawling master-planned suburb in the south-west fringe.
A year 9 sports class at Oran Park High.Credit: James Brickwood
“We have so many families moving into the area. We get a lot of kids join who went to primary schools in Ryde or Bankstown, and also get large numbers of students coming in through the year which has its challenges,” he said.
A department spokesperson said the government is delivering almost 600 new classrooms in the north-west, including new schools at Box Hill, Schofields, Gables and Jordan Springs and upgrades at others.
“Sydney’s north-west and south-west corridors account for more than half of all student enrolment growth in NSW,” the spokesperson said.
The department is monitoring demand and “exploring options to meet long-term demand in the lower north shore and Chatswood area.”
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said about 1200 students had enrolled in new co-located primary and high schools in Melonba in Marsden Park in term 1 this year. The schools are near Northbourne Public which has twice as many students as its 900-pupil cap.
Car said the government is addressing demand with a $3.6 billion investment in new and upgraded schools across western Sydney, and “an unprecedented building program focused on the city’s fastest-growing areas in the north-west and south-west.”
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