Changes to Northern Beaches high school zoning, designed to ensure every student has access to a public co-education high school, have trickled down to affect our youngest school kids, too. Some argue for the better, others for worse.
The back story in sixty seconds
As part of their 2023 election campaign, State Labor promised all NSW students would have guaranteed access to a co-educational public high school by 2027. For a large catchment of the lower Northern Beaches up to Curl Curl, the only public high school options available were single-sex (Mackellar Girls and Balgowlah Boys). Mid 2024, the Department of Education floated four proposals to restructure the affected schools (you can read more here) and landed on expanding Freshwater NBSC to include Year 7 to 12, starting the transition in 2026 (you can read more here).
This came with an announcement on the last day of Term 4, 2024, to alter catchment zones to ensure every high school student had a co-education option (you can read more here). As part of this process, Department also altered catchment zones for Brookvale Public School, Harbord Public School, Manly Vale Public School, Manly Village Public School, Manly West Public School, and Narraweena Public School to “provide improved alignment between primary schools and high schools, enabling more students to move from primary school to high school with their peers”.
This will start in 2026 – you can check where you fall on the map for primary and high school catchment zones here and School Finder will be updated this year.
The changes
Brookvale Public School
A portion of homes that used to be part of Manly Vale Public School catchment will be added to Brookvale Public School, while Brookvale will lose students south of Winbourne Rd, and east of Short St/Mitchell Rd. Brookvale Public School will continue to be allocated to Cromer NBSC as a high school catchment despite Freshwater NBSC being geographically closer.
A Brookvale Public School P&C Association representative argued that these changes negatively affect the smallest public school on the Northern Beaches, while adding to Harbord and Curl Curl, which are among the largest.
“The Department’s decision to reallocate sections of Brookvale’s primary school catchment area to Harbord and Curl Curl Public schools diminishes Brookvale’s ability to maintain stable enrolments and support its community. It appears counterproductive to weaken the smallest school’s catchment area in favour of already thriving institutions,” they said in an e-mail to Manly Observer.
While Brookvale’s catchment zone looks sizeable on a map, a lot of Brookvale is made up of industrial areas.
“The section being added to our catchment zone includes far fewer families than the section being removed,” the representative added.
“The area being removed consists of some of the highest socio-economic families in our school. Losing these families not only impacts our enrolment numbers but also contributes to segregation, reducing the diversity and balance that make Brookvale Public School so special.”
Harbord Public School
Harbord Public School has almost 1,000 students and is set to expand its catchment zone. In the north-west corner of the area, those on the Wattle Rd, Amourin Street and Short Street will be moved into Harbord’s zoning, and the south-west boundary will be pushed back to Manly Creek. The catchment zone and additional streets will be zoned to Freshwater NBSC.
Manly Vale Public School
The main changes to Manly Vale Public School are along its northern and eastern border. The homes between Condamine St and Corrie Rd will be ceded to Brookvale Public School and will be zoned to Cromer NBSC (in blue), and residences east of Manly Creek will be part of Harbord Public School and will be zoned to Freshwater NBSC or NBSC Balgowlah Boys/Mackellar Girls (in pink/dark pink). The remainder of the area will be zoned to Forest High or NBSC Balgowlah Boys/Mackellar Girls (in green/dark green).
A concerned parent of Manly Vale has shared their objections to the changes with Manly Observer. Their family live in the northern end of the previous Manly Vale catchment and they explained their primary and secondary catchment zones haven’t aligned since the 2023 Manly Vale Public School catchment re-adjustment. During the consultation process, held earlier this year, they were in favour of ensuring their children were able to follow their peers from primary to high school, rather than be focused on single-sex or co-educational options.
According to the new zoning, their children (one enrolled and two to start) will now be in the catchment for Brookvale Public School and zoned with Cromer NBSC.
“This is completely unacceptable from a ‘neighbourhood’ perspective. There is a small section of residential land in North Manly which is separated and isolated from the rest of the Brookvale PS/Cromer High catchment by a large section of commercial and industrially zoned land that creates a significant divide and barrier,” they explained to Manly Observer.
“It is possible that the group within the Department responsible for catchment formation do not have the local knowledge about the immediate neighbourhood context, as this section of North Manly is very isolated from the rest of the proposed Brookvale PS/Cromer catchment.”
As for high schools, these changes split the previous Manly Vale Public School catchment between three different co-educational high schools.
“Our portion of North Manly used to be included in the Freshwater NBSC catchment,” the parent added.
They have one daughter who is currently attending Manly Vale Public School (with two pre-school children set to join in future years). If they choose to leave her at Manly Vale (to remain with the friendship groups she’s formed), it would only be her and one other student who would transition to Cromer NBSC in Year 7.
“Sending two out of 80 children in a year group to a separate high school is absurd,” they said.
Manly West Public School and Manly Village Public School
Manly Village Public School’s catchment zone has expanded, taking on homes previously allocated to Manly West Public School. Manly Village Public School’s catchment will follow down Balgowlah Rd before continuing alongside Francis Street (although it appears homes on Francis Street will remain with Manly West), down Crescent Street, and then along Woods Pde (dividing the street between the two schools) to the harbour. Manly Village currently has around 566 students enrolled, while Manly West is nearing 900.
The areas will also be split between high schools, with Manly Village allocated to Freshwater NBSC and Manly West to Forest High, with both schools having the option of NBSC Balgowlah Boys/Mackellar Girls.
Narraweena Public School
Narraweena Public School will continue to be in the Cromer NBSC catchment and will be ceding a few residences south of Warringah Rd to Brookvale Public School.
Not everyone is unhappy…
A Seaforth Public School parent contacted Manly Observer to express how they are pleased their catchment, once divided between high schools, is finally united, despite coming a little too late for their children as they move to high school this year (2025).
“Until now, kids at Seaforth PS weren’t all able to go to the same high school with some streets split down the middle between Forest High or Bally Boys/Mackellar Girls,” Jacky said.
“It’s been a big issue with friendship groups being split up, as well as, the concern that the kids who were allocated to Forest High had to take public transport or to be driven to school when they could’ve walked to Bally Boys.”
From 2026, anyone in the Seaforth Public School catchment will have the option of all three schools – Forest High, Balgowlah Boys or Mackellar Girls.
“This is what we’ve been advocating for years,” Jacky added.
“I am glad for future kids in the Seaforth PS catchment area they will now have the choice to go to the same high school as their friends rather than be denied that opportunity as they lived on opposite sides of a road.”
