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Canberra Today 25°/29° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Public education on the march

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SHANE Rattenbury has tabled school enrolment projections for 2017 and 2018, along with school capacity numbers, as part of a range of work the Education Direction undertakes on an ongoing basis to manage the Canberra Public School System.

“This data gives us a big picture overview of our schooling system and is a helpful tool to assist in planning for and managing growth in Canberra Public Schools,” Shane said.

“We have seen substantial growth across our entire public school system, with a 14.9% increase in enrolments over the past 5 years. Canberra Public Schools provide students with quality education from kindergarten through to year 12, and parents are increasingly choosing to enrol their children in one of our schools.

“The data specifically indentifies some particular areas of expected growth in Gungahlin, parts of Belconnen and Molonglo, in line with recent and ongoing development in these areas.

“We know that suburb demographics ebb and flow, and while a school might be under pressure now, in 5 years time this cohort of students has moved on and we may have a school with underutilised capacity.

“As such, we need to ensure we have a strategic and system-wide approach to managing growth.

“In areas that are projected to have or are currently experiencing enrolment pressure, the school will develop a School Enrolment Management Plan. As part of this plan, out of area enrolments may be limited or ceased (including from NSW) and better use is made of existing facilities and resources.

“In some cases it is also appropriate to build new facilities to manage expected ongoing demand. For example, last week the Government announced $20m from the 2016-17 ACT Budget to provide an additional 680 spaces for students in Gungahlin. This is in addition to the $28.6 million announced in 2015-16 to build a new primary school in north Gungahlin for the 2019 school year.

“In term one of this year, Charles Weston School in Coombs took in its first cohort of students and is Canberra’s ACT’s 87th public school.

“The ACT Government also plans for education needs in the early stages of new suburb development by setting aside land for schools, as has been the case in the new Gungahlin and Molonglo regions.

“The data does identify some schools where the projected enrolments may exceed the current capacity. The Directorate is currently working with schools in these areas to ensure capacity is adequate to meet these future demands.

“It is important that we continue to evaluate and update this data, as it quickly becomes out-of-date as demographics change and we implement strategies to manage pressures.

“This data helps us to plan for growth and ensure we have a place for every child who wants to attend a public school but is just part of a suite of measures that help us to manage supply and demand for schools across Canberra and plan for future needs.

“I am pleased to table these projections today, and provide parents and carers across Canberra with more information. I hope that this gives greater certainty to parents that the Government is planning for their children’s future schooling needs,” said Mr Rattenbury.

School enrolment projections, capacity numbers and the school census data will be available on the Education Directorate website education.act.gov.au

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