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Much has been said about the declining number of students in NSW’s public education system.
Enrolments fell again by 7000 last year in the continuation of a two-decade trend that has been attributed to factors including the failure to build new public schools in rapidly growing parts of Sydney, parents seeking faith-based education and the perception of comprehensive schools as second-rate compared to selectives. At the same time the state’s public schools’ share of students declined by 5 per cent, the proportion at independent schools increased by the same amount.
In suburbs across Sydney’s east and inner west, the problem is being compounded by declining birth rates.
The Sun-Herald last month reported some public schools in these areas had seen enrolment drops of more than 50 per cent between 2018 and 2025. But, even in areas where children are becoming a rarer sight, Catholic and independent primary schools tended to hold their numbers.
With their achievements emblazoned on buses and targeted social media campaigns – often managed by a dedicated communications professional – private schools are good at letting conscientious parents know what they gain from enrolling their children.
In response, as the Herald’s education editor Christopher Harris reports today, parents at Glebe Public School in inner Sydney are forging ahead with a parent-led marketing campaign for their school, hoping to encourage more local families to choose the public system.
Glebe was one of the schools highlighted in February’s story as having had a significant decline in kindergarten: it went from 55 students in 2018 to 24 last year. The kindy cohort at the local Catholic also declined, but by much less, and is now the more popular choice in the suburb.
It is not the first time a P&C has taken matters into its own hands. As Harris writes, last year Waverley Public parents successfully campaigned for a selective class, concerned by the number of students who left at the end of year 4 for other public schools with an “opportunity class”, or private schools.
The Education Department is doing what it can to showcase excellence. School photos of actress Rose Byrne, an alumnus of Hunters Hill High, were shared during her awards season this year. As the Matildas took on Japan in last weekend’s Asian Cup grand final, it boasted of how many in the national squad had been educated at NSW’s public comprehensive and sports specialist schools.
But these efforts come up against pervasive negative sentiment towards public schools and their staff. Much of which, it must be said, is perpetuated by parents whom, as the Herald reported last week, principals have now been given stronger powers to ban from campuses and restrict from abusively contacting teachers.
A school is only as good as its community. It is heartening to see parents who want the best for their children show up for their local school, rather than join the exodus.
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