30 March, 2024
Search
Close this search box.
LABOR WILL PROVIDE CO-ED HIGH SCHOOL ACCESS FOR ALL NSW FAMILIES & UPGRADE RANDWICK SCHOOLS

Date

Spread the love

An elected Minns Labor Government would develop a Co-ed Schools Strategy to ensure every family has the option of choosing a co-ed public high school, and deliver much needed upgrades at Randwick Boys and Girls High Schools.
 
The strategy would provide co-ed high school access state-wide in the first term of a Minns Labor Government.
 
Labor’s Co-ed Schools Strategy
 
Labor’s Co-ed Schools Strategy would be developed by the Department of Education to deliver co-ed high school access for all NSW families, regardless of where they live.
 
This strategy will recommend expansions to school catchment boundaries, future school upgrades and identify future land requirements to ensure all students will have the option of attending a co-ed high school.
 
School catchment areas will need different interventions to provide state-wide access to co-ed high schools, and the strategy will determine how best to deliver this access in each catchment.
 
There are currently 45 single-sex public high schools in NSW, with families in many of these catchments falling outside any co-ed high school catchment.
 
Last year, the Department of Education said they were ‘working towards options’ to increase access, but more than a year later the Perrottet Government has not announced a policy to deliver state-wide access to co-ed schools.
 
Upgrades to Randwick High Schools
 
Labor will also upgrade Randwick Boys and Girls High Schools, which the NSW Liberal Government has failed to do, despite promising the upgrades in 2018.
 
This will ensure current students at the existing high schools have first-rate facilities, whilst also planning for the future needs of the community.
 
Parents and students at Randwick Boys High School and Randwick Girls High School have been waiting for more than four years for their upgrades, only to find out that the NSW Liberal Government had downgraded their promised upgrades.
 
The NSW Government allocated $5 million for the upgrade in the 2021-22 budget but only spent $154,000, with parents describing the school as “unsafe, neglected and rundown.”
 
An internal Department of Education business case costed a complete upgrade of the boys and girls schools at $59.88 million.
 
NSW Labor will fund the full upgrade which will be completed in the first term of government.
 
NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns said:
 
“We want every family to have the choice to attend a co-ed public high school.”
 
“Families shouldn’t have to face the stress of moving house into a different school catchment just to get their child into a co-ed public high school.”
 
“This is all about providing the best educational opportunities for NSW families.”
 
NSW Labor Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister for Education Prue Car said:
 
“Currently, arbitrary lines can determine whether families in areas like Randwick, Kogarah and Canterbury can access a local co-ed public high school.”
 
“We want to ensure every family has the choice of a co-ed school for their child.”
 
“It won’t happen overnight, but Labor’s Co-ed Schools Strategy will expand co-ed high school access state-wide.”
 
Member for Coogee Marjorie O’Neill said:

“Life is co-ed. We know we need a new co-ed high school east of the CBD and Labor’s Co-ed Schools Strategy will give us the path to make it happen, as well as give current students choice and certainty.”
 
“A Minns Labor Government will prioritise upgrades to Randwick Girls and Randwick Boys for current students and also ensure we plan for the future with full co-ed high school access in the Eastern Suburbs.”
 
“Randwick Boys and Girls High Schools have been waiting for more than 4 years for their promised upgrades, but the Perrottet Liberal Government has failed to deliver. Instead, they’ve cut the upgrades.”
 
List of single sex schools in NSW

CHRIS MINNS MP
NSW LABOR LEADER
 
PRUE CAR MP
NSW LABOR DEPUTY LEADER
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
 
MARJORIE O’NEILL MP
MEMBER FOR COOGEE

About the Author

More
articles