Dissension After Department of Education Shrinks School Catchment

The catchment area for the sought-after Inner Sydney High School in Surry Hills has been considerably shrunk, drawing the ire of parents.

A map redrawing by New South Wales Department of Education has reallocated parts of Double Bay, Woollhara, Centennial Park and Redfern to schools in Rose Bay, Randwick and Alexandria.

Some eastern suburban students previously allocated to Inner Sydney High are now in the zone of Randwick High School, formerly Randwick Girls High and Randwick Boys High, which have been amalgamated and will operate as a single co-ed institution from this year.

Inner Sydney High

Inner Sydney High School opened in 2020 at a cost of $135 million, with a high-rise campus overlooking Prince Alfred Park near Central station.

Prior to the school’s opening, it was reported that parents were looking away from private schools to send their kids to the new public institution.

Upon opening, its catchment area included the eastern suburbs of Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Paddington, Moore Park, Double Bay, Woollahra, Centennial Park and Kensington, which are mostly well-to-do, as well as Redfern, with its high measure of social housing and large Indigenous population.

About a quarter of the geographic area of Redfern – everything directly west of Redfern Park – has been cut from the school’s catchment area.

This is not the first redrawing of the school’s catchment; it was first redrawn even prior to its opening to include more of Redfern following criticism from parents.

Following the new boundary change, eastern suburbs education advocacy group CLOSEast criticised the way the school’s boundaries were drawn prior to its opening.

“It makes sense that as schools change, boundaries change,” the group said.

“But what never made sense was the original boundaries drawn for the Inner Sydney High School – which penetrated far into the Eastern suburbs, in what felt like a desire to appease the CLOSEast campaign for a new high school in the east.”

“Now the Inner Sydney High School is full, a harsh reality has set in for families as close to the school as Redfern.”

“It’s evident that families want to support well funded, co-ed public high schools.”

Some students will be zoned away from Inner Sydney High despite it being their closest school.

One parent in Redfern told the Sydney Morning Herald that the change “splits our suburb in two.”

The desire of parents to send their children to Inner Sydney High and its operation at near capacity is indicative of the school’s success. A thousand students were enrolled last year, with the school having a maximum capacity of 1,080.

Randwick High

The unified, newly co-ed government high school in Randwick joins many Sydney high schools converted to educate both sexes.

The previously-separate Randwick Girls and Randwick Boys high schools operated on adjoining campuses. The amalgamation was announced in September 2023 alongside the conversion of other schools, following parent advocacy.

At the time, education minister Prue Car said that ​​“the transition of these schools to co-education reflects the preferences of the majority of parents in these local communities.”