A Dubbo primary school is one of 800 NSW public schools operating over-capacity, a NSW parliamentary inquiry has heard.
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Documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws and released at a budget estimates meeting this week show many of the state's schools are full-to-bursting.
Comparing the number of teachers to classrooms – a measure used by the department to measure a school's capacity – more than one-third of NSW public schools are operating at 100 per cent capacity or more.
Dubbo Public School is operating at 105 per cent capacity, the documents showed.
But a Department of Education spokesperson said there were “no concerns” about being over-capacity at the school, with 21 classes accommodated in 21 classrooms.
“A 100 per cent ‘utilisation’ rate does not mean that a school cannot take any more students, but that all of the school’s teaching spaces, permanent and demountable, are utilised: higher enrolments can usually be catered for by adding demountable classrooms,” the spokesperson said.
“In some cases, for schools over 100 per cent utilisation, a decision has generally been made at a local level by the school principal to manage student enrolments within existing permanent spaces, instead of placing demountable classrooms on the school site.”
All classes at Dubbo Public School were within Departmental guidelines for class size, the spokesperson said, and there was also a library, resource room and computer room on site.
“Further, there will be scope to develop other specialist learning spaces in the former principal’s residence as it becomes available in the new year,” the spokesperson said.
“The Department uses demountable facilities - classrooms and specialist spaces to manage fluctuating enrolment demands in the short to medium term.
“In cases of sustained and stable enrolment increases, the Department provides additional permanent facilities, or new schools, as necessary.”
Elsewhere in the central west, Perthville Public School, south of Bathurst, and the Carenne School (SSPK-12), in Bathurst, were operating at 120 per cent capacity and 113 per cent capacity respectively.
Raglan Public School Parkes Public School and Orange East Public School were all operating at 110 per cent capacity, while Bathurst Public School and Young Public School were both operating at 104 per cent.