NSW Department of Education held a consultation on Monday, 26 May 2025, with Kambora Public School parents and concerned community members over low student enrolment numbers, which may lead to the school closing.
Last year, the primary school (kindergarten to Year 6) located in Davidson had 104 students enrolled. The Department confirmed enrolments have fluctuated over several years but significantly declined this year, with only 39 students enrolled, 14 who are from out of area.
“This year, we experienced the perfect storm,” Kambora P&C President, Lily Stewart explained to Manly Observer.
“We had our usual Year 6 kids moving on to high school, a few families choosing private schools as they do every year and then came the real hit with a sharp drop in our Kindy intake. We only have two kindy students enrolled this year.
“Larger neighbouring schools that aren’t at capacity accepted a very significant number of out-of-area enrolments. Yes, that’s within policy. But let’s not pretend it supports the principle of strengthening smaller communities.
“I also want to acknowledge that some families left for personal reasons. I respect that. But when enough people make those decisions, it builds into a pattern.
“And then there’s the perception issue; this idea that small means ‘less.’ It’s not true, but once that belief takes hold, it snowballs.”
Kambora Public School is located one kilometre from Mimosa Public School, two and a half kilometres from Wakehurst Public School, and three and a half kilometres from Belrose Public School. It is worth noting, according to Department of Education’s publicly available data, Kambora is the smallest (by enrolment) primary school on the Northern Beaches, closely followed by Belrose Public School (who had 175 students enrolled last year).
The consultation
According to the Department, community consultation is standard practice for small schools to understand future student enrolments and ensure schools are providing the best quality education. As part of the process, the Department arranges meeting with local principals, staff, parents and the community. In addition, as part of Kambora’s consultation process, Matt Cross, Member for Davidson, the local AECG (Aboriginal Education Consultative Group), the Teacher’s Federation and the Primary Principals’ Association have been included.
“Consultations are being held with the Kambora Public School community into the future educational provision at the school and no decision has been made on the school’s status, and this was made clear at a community meeting on Monday,” a NSW Department of Education spokesperson told us.
However, that is not the feeling Lily got after attending the consultation.
“There was only one conversation Amber was going with and that was to put the school into recess (temporary closure),” Lily said. Amber Gorrell is the Director of Educational Leadership for the Forest Principals Network and attended the consultation on behalf of Department of Education.
“There were no discussions about keeping the school open or merging with another school. Instead, they said they’d already secured places for our children at other local schools and would give us free uniforms. Problem solved.”
Parents also asked the Department what they had done to support and help the school boost their enrolment numbers.
“Several people who attended the consultation asked the Department to give us one example of what they had done to help us increase enrolments and every time Amber dodged the question,” Lily added.
When we asked the Department the same question, they explained they had worked with the school to promote enrolments, however attributed the drop in enrolments to the change of demographics in the area. A problem not only felt in Davidson (where Kambora is located) but across the Beaches and even Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics found a 0.3 per cent decrease in government primary school enrolments in 2024 across Australia, while non-government schools increased by two22 per cent in the same year.
The next steps
The Department confirmed that students will continue their education at Kambora during the ongoing consultation process, with support provided to their families throughout the process.
Written submissions sent to metronorthdeewhy@det.nsw.edu.au from current and prospective parents are open until 20 June 2025. Following this, a further meeting with parents and staff is planned to communicate a summary of the submissions received.
Matt Cross, Member for Davidson, is advocating for Kambora to remain open for the long term and encouraged everyone to make a submission and talk up the school to friends and neighbours.
“I’ll be advocating to the Minister for Education that no decision about the school’s future be made in 2025, as to allow the Kambora community sufficient time to boost enrolments, especially for Kindergarten in 2026,” he told Manly Observer.
As for Lily, who only moved her two children to the school in Term 3 last year and took on the P&C President role this year, she won’t stand for the closure of a school she described as being life changing for her children.
“Kambora isn’t just another small school facing closure,” she said.
“It’s a living, breathing community where our children feel safe, seen, and supported. It’s not just about education; it’s about care and belonging. Closing Kambora isn’t simply a bureaucratic move; it’s a betrayal of everything a public school should stand for. And I’ll fight with everything I’ve got to make sure our kids don’t lose their second home.”
