The NSW Government is today announcing $2.6 billion in funding for four new schools across Sydney as part of next week’s NSW Budget.
And while we welcome the already-announced upgrade of Excelsior Public School – we are yet again bitterly disappointed.
No new schools in The Hills Shire is simply not good enough.
Our schools are at breaking point.
We have the most overcrowded schools in the state.
We have the highest housing targets in the state – set for us by the NSW Government.
Yet the same NSW Government has not allocated us the infrastructure funding to match.
Our population is set to boom by an additional 140,000 residents over the next 16 years. That’s an increase of 71 per cent by 2041.
So, if you think our schools are overcrowded now – they are only going to get worse.
Castle Hill High is operating nearly 1,000 students above its cap, relying on over 50 demountable classrooms, many of which are occupying vital sporting fields and depriving our children of essential outdoor play areas.
Rouse Hill Public School is over capacity by 502 students, while Ironbark Ridge Public School exceeds its limit by 427 students.
Families are facing waitlists at Santa Sophia Catholic College in Gables, and many cannot access the existing pop-up Box Hill Public School due to the boundary restrictions. Other students are being redirected to Rouse Hill, further stressing our already congested roads.
We need 13 new state schools in our Shire.
Our data clearly shows that Box Hill alone requires at least three primary schools and one K–12 school.
Across The Hills, we need a minimum of 10 additional schools to meet the skyrocketing population growth.
Specifically, we require one in the Showground Precinct where the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces irresponsibly lifted the cap on the number of dwellings to 9,500 homes in 2023.
This cap was initially set at 5,000 until a new school site had been identified and funded. To this day, no school site has been publicly identified or funded.
Hills residents can only assume that the high housing targets – combined with the lack of infrastructure funding – is a partisan decision by the NSW Government.
This is exactly why we’re running the Fight for a Fairer Hills Future campaign.
More than 12,000 people that live, work, visit or send their kids to school in the Hills Shire have already signed.
And the NSW Government cannot ignore these people any longer.
Sign here: Parliament of NSW
For more information visit: fairerhillsfuture.com.au
