Public schools across NSW will open their doors to the largest cohort of students ever recorded on Day 1, Term 1 this year, Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell confirmed.
Ms Mitchell detailed the trends in the enrolment figures today, stating that approximately 497,000 primary school students and 318,000 high school students are enrolled so far for 2020, with 71,000 alone starting Kindergarten.
“For more than 30 years, student numbers have been relatively stable in public schools across the state, but now, NSW is facing the first major increase in the school-aged population since the Baby Boom of the 1950s,” Ms Mitchell said.
“In 2020, we’ll see a once-in-a-generation spike in school enrolments, so it is more important than ever to ensure that as a government, we continue to invest in world-class learning facilities.
“We are responding to this population growth by ramping up work on our unprecedented $6.7 billion investment in school infrastructure, with $900 million of work to be delivered between January and the end of June this year.”
The NSW Government is rolling out the largest ever investment in public education in the history of NSW, with $6.7 billion over four years to deliver 190 new and upgraded schools, $1.3 billion on school maintenance over five years and $500 million to provide schools across the state with new air conditioning.
Ms Mitchell said that the Government needs to continue preparing for growing enrolments over the coming years, with more than 130,000 extra students expected to be in NSW public schools by 2036.
“It is an incredibly exciting time to be a student in NSW; we are delivering absolutely state-of-the-art facilities right across the state and we will continue to do so to satisfy this increasing demand,” she said.
“In 2020, we’re also going to see at least 839 new teachers and 49 new principals, so the work we’re doing is about giving them the best environments to teach in as well.”
“We will leverage the work of last year, and increase collaboration and innovation around world-class design, technology and construction to give our kids the best education possible.”