The Victorian schools facing an enrolment crush
As the city’s growing suburbs struggle to accommodate a growing student population, new schools in Melbourne’s west, which welcomed their first students this week, are already at capacity.
Schools in three local authority areas – Wyndham, Hume and Melton – experienced an enrollment increase of 26,884 between 2021 and 2025, with dozens of new campuses being built to meet demand.
Two new Catholic primaries in the City of Melton – St Marianne Cope at Mount Atkinson Manor in Truganina and St Padre Pio at Thornhill Park – far exceeded the expected intake numbers before first classes began.
“We have a public school opening this year too and that’s just a little bit down the road,” St Marianne Cope principal Jackie Byrne said. “I was worried there wouldn’t be enough families to fill both of our schools. But there are.”
The school recorded its capacity of around 250 students for the first day, although it had initially planned to admit around 100 fewer students. “We had to take portables from the very beginning, which was not something we expected to do,” Byrne said.
An additional preparatory class has helped squeeze in children from some of the estate’s younger families, such as Eva Debono, whose three-year-old sister will also attend the nursery school next door.
Their mother, Melissa Debono, said the school opened just in time after she and her husband built the property in 2022.
“I was hoping I could get them into a school within walking distance. This was promised to us when we bought the land,” he said. “It’s been a lot slower than we thought. I feel a little sad for those who needed it sooner and the access wasn’t there for them.”
Nearby, the new St Padre Pio school was expected to open this year with 130 students but will have 195 students and will have waiting lists for each year level.
Between 2016 and 2026, pupils in Catholic primary schools in the nine fastest-growing parishes in the western suburbs increased by 74 per cent, from 9759 pupils to 16,969 pupils, according to the Archdiocese of Melbourne Catholic Schools (MACS).
The group expects these numbers to increase by another 37 percent over the next decade.
Wyndham, Hume and Melton council areas account for 47 of the 100 schools the state government has built since 2014. One of these is Kolorer College in Cobblebank. This college will open this week with approximately 150 children in grade 7 and has a capacity of 865 students.
“Our new secondary schools are being built for future demand, starting with only Year 7 students and gradually increasing capacity as enrollments increase. Some primary schools can also gradually add more capacity if there is demand,” Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll said.
Principal Ciar Foster says the government has the option of expanding the school to surrounding green space, depending on demographics, allowing it to potentially enroll around 1,500 students in the future. “Being able to build our culture and teaching methods from scratch is a truly exciting and unique opportunity.”
Bronwen Clark, chief executive of the National Growth Areas Alliance, said it was welcome that many of the new schools were in growth areas, but delivery often needed to happen sooner.
“They might be doing more in terms of their own planning so we won’t have such a big catch-up opportunity for people who are already there,” he said.
“People don’t move into new areas and expect everything to be handed to them on a plate. But they’ve paid developer contributions, they’ve paid taxes, and they’re not allowed access to the same level of infrastructure and services.”
The largest increase in enrollment over the past five years was among independent schools, where statewide enrollment increased from 154,508 to 178,292.
Rachel Holthouse, chief executive of Independent Schools Victoria, says more than half of this growth last year was in low-fee schools. “Growth is strongest in Melbourne’s outer growth corridors, particularly in the west and north, highlighting the critical role low-fee independent schools play in fast-growing communities,” he said.
Heathdale Christian College’s primary school in Melton is full this year for the first time since its opening in 2014.
“I could have filled 600 spaces almost immediately, but we wanted to talk about the importance of the culture within our school and take a measured approach to it,” executive principal Ross Grace said.
The school’s Werribee campus has full enrollment at junior year levels, which will soon be transferred to senior grades. Grace said school projections show no signs of declining enrollment in the coming years. “The long-term growth that we’re seeing is actually really sustainable.”
Jackson Graham is an education correspondent for The Age. He previously worked as an explanatory reporter.Connect via email.
