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A $55 million cash splash will boost enrolment capacity for primary schools in Brisbane’s west by up to 450 places and enable schools to ditch their demountables. However, the area’s high school was not so lucky.
On Wednesday, students and staff gathered to officially open Indooroopilly State School’s newest 12-classroom complex, while Toowong State School was expecting 11 additional classrooms in early 2027.
The new Toowong build would boost enrolments by 200 and include technology for its hard-of-hearing and deaf students, who comprise about one-third of enrolments.
Year 5 student Elliot Hodges said “every day [the school] has a new student”, while his year 4 classmate, Vera Williams, said she was keen to see the campus grow alongside enrolments.
“Overall, I really like the idea of the building because I’ve had experience in an older and more modern classrooms, and I think it would be nice for some of the other students to get that benefit,” she said.
Principal Brendon Madden said the school was continuing to grow, with enrolments jumping by 29 students since the start of the year. He said the expansion, costing more than $20 million, would provide some breathing room.
It also meant the school could remove three demountable buildings from its oval.
“That will actually expand our play spaces for all our students … green space is really critical, they love to run around,” Madden said.
Indooroopilly State School principal Debbie Spanner said the school community was delighted with the new $34.1 million complex, which she said had enabled the school to get rid of four demountable classrooms.
“We’ve got space for growth,” she said.
“As a community, we feel a lot more confident to be able to cater for … the children who are in our local community and want to come to Indooroopilly State School – we can meet that need.”
While the Education Department and school were yet to hash out the exact details, the building – which included specialty music and staffroom spaces – was estimated to boost enrolments by about 250.
Local MP Michael Berkman said while the primary school projects were commendable, the area’s high school also needed to expand.
“We genuinely need more capacity because the inner-west growth isn’t slowing any time soon, and there’s still a huge need for additional buildings and specialist and general learning spaces at Indooroopilly State High School,” he said.
Demountables trucked into the school in 2023 remained on the campus, and enrolments sat 36 per cent above maximum capacity – the most of any Brisbane school.
Future planning for the high school relied on a drop to about 2500 students, some 400 fewer than are currently enrolled.
The three local primary campuses – Toowong, Indooroopilly, and Ironside state schools – enrolled a total of 2560 students in February this year.
The campus expansions bring that number above 3000.
While a new primary school had been earmarked for the area more than five years ago, the designs were scrapped in 2023 and the department de-prioritised the project.
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