The Education Minister says her department has failed to properly plan for Sydney's growing population by building schools in the wrong places. An audit has found Western Sydney suburbs are desperate for more school places, while some schools closer to town are under-enrolled.
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00:00 Australia's first publicly educated Liberal Prime Minister making the case for good public
00:08 schools.
00:09 I have always seen a strong public education system as being the bedrock of our very successful
00:20 education system.
00:24 Canterbury Boys High has unveiled its new hall, named after a notable graduate.
00:30 Very nice to have a hall named after you, that's very kind.
00:33 But many of today's public school students are struggling to find a seat and the State
00:38 Labor Government says planning needs to change.
00:41 A government audit has found 10 suburbs where the student population has soared past what
00:47 Education Department bureaucrats predicted.
00:50 The biggest growth is in Schofields East.
00:53 Government staff had planned for 1,500 students by 2023 but there's almost 5,000.
01:00 In those top 10 areas every one of them is getting a significant upgrade or a brand new
01:05 school.
01:06 While some schools overflow, others are over-catering.
01:09 Canterbury South Public School got a $17 million redevelopment to boost its capacity but it's
01:15 still under-enrolled.
01:17 The way that we measured student projection was all wrong and now under this government
01:22 the department has been asked to do it differently.
01:24 There are so many students who need a high school at Marsden Park that the government
01:28 opened this one last week using demountables while a permanent one is built across the
01:34 road.
01:35 There's going to be a brand new high school in action.
01:37 The government's also announced a site for the new Jordan Springs High School which should
01:41 open by 2027.
01:43 It's so exciting, we've been waiting to hear whether it's definitely going ahead.
01:48 A vital addition to a fast-growing Western Sydney community.
01:51 [no audio]