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Call for Showground School

An e-petition calling for a new primary school at Castle Hill Showground has now been signed by 3,710 people.

Launched by Castle Hill MP Mark Hodges it calls for a new school for the area, claiming 9,500 children will be without a school if one is not planned soon due to the planned growth area around the Showground Metro station.

The Petition states: “For over a decade, promises of a new primary school have not materialized. Castle Hill and nearby areas are experiencing rapid population growth, leading to overcrowding in existing schools. The lack of adequate educational facilities is stressing families, teachers, and local infrastructure.

“The CAP of 5,000 apartments placed on the Showground Precinct was due to the need for a school, with assurances that this cap would not be lifted until a school was provided. However, Minister Scully has recently increased this cap to 9,500 apartments, yet no school has been built or committed.

“According to ABS, the average household has one child, resulting in 9,500 additional children in the Showground Precinct.

We ask the Legislative Assembly to call on the Government to:

1. Immediately allocate funds for planning and constructing a new school in Castle Hill.
2. Provide a clear and binding timeline for the school’s development and opening.
3. Engage in transparent communication with the community.
4. Ensure the new school is adequately staffed and resourced to meet our growing community’s needs.

Artist’s impression of what is planned for the area around Showground Castle Hill Metro

In September the Government announced the site for a new public high school on land it owned in Guntawong Road, Tallawong to cater for the growth area around Tallawong Metro Station, reducing pressure on nearby schools.

The new high school will initially cater for 1000 students, delivering more than 50 permanent classrooms, and is due for completion on day one, Term 1 2027.

A release from the Government at the time of the announcement said: “Delivering this new high school is part of the NSW Government’s work to address the school infrastructure backlog in Sydney’s north-west growth corridor, with new public schools being fast-tracked in Melonba, Box Hill, Tallawong, Gables and Nirimba Fields, and major upgrades underway at Rouse Hill High School and Schofields Public School.

In June The State Government announced that a temporary school was being fast tracked for the growing Box Hill area with enrolments set to open from 2025.

Its media statement said that the government will begin work on a new primary school and high school at Box Hill, in addition to the new primary school in Gables. Together the three schools will cater for 3000 local students with room to grow.

It said the state’s most populous school campuses at Riverbank Public School and The Ponds High School will receive significant additional funding for further upgrades on top of those already underway, to cater for their large and growing student populations.

There was fury from local civic leaders when no funding was allocated for new schools at Castle Hill in the State Budget despite Castle Hill Public School catering for more than 1,000 students and Castle Hill High catering for over 2,000 students before the extra influx of residents.

Bev Jordan

Bev Jordan studied journalism at Harlow College in the UK.  She achieves a Diploma in Journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists. After migrating to Australia at the end of 1984, she took up a Senior Journalist position with Cumberland Newspapers, based on the Parramatta Advertiser. She has since worked on the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and was a lecturer in Journalism at Macleay College in Sydney. Bev returned to Cumberland Newspapers (NewsLocal) and worked for 30 years covering all different mastheads, including Mosman Daily, Mount Druitt Standard and finally Hills Shire Times for the last… More »

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