Northern Beaches Secondary College (NBSC) Freshwater Senior Campus will expand from a Year 11 to 12 seniors-only campus to a full Year 7 to 12 high school campus under major changes to Northern Beaches co-educational schooling, it was revealed today 5 December.
The Department announced NBSC Freshwater will accept Year 7 and Year 9 students in 2026 (along with Years 11 and 12). The school will officially operate as a Year 7 to 12 campus in 2027.
This is the only confirmed change under the NSW Government’s promise to make co-education available to all students. No changes have been made to single sex schools Mackellar (NBSC Mackellar Girls Campus) or Balgowlah Boys (NBSC Balgowlah Boys Campus), nor Manly Selective (NBSC Manly Campus) following strong resistance from the community.
Upgrades to the long-suffering Bally Boys campus have been flagged, as well as necessary changes for the transition at Freshwater, NSW Education states.
How did we get here?
As part of their 2023 election campaign, Labor promised all students in NSW would have guaranteed access to a co-educational public high school by 2027. This is a flow on from that commitment.
For a large catchment of the lower Northern Beaches up to Curl Curl, the only public school options available were single-sex (Mackellar and Balgowlah).
As Manly Observer reported earlier this year, four proposals to restructure the affected schools were put forward: whether Balgowlah Boys should permit girls, Mackellar should permit boys, Freshwater Senior permits all secondary years or Manly Selective becomes, well, less selective.
According to the Department’s findings, co-education was preferred by the majority of those surveyed with 74 per cent of local early childhood parents and carers and 68 per cent of local primary school parents and carers preferring a co-ed high school. The most preferred option to ensure co-educational access for all was Proposal A (to transition NBSC Freshwater to a Year 7 to 12 school) and was favoured by the “majority”.
“Local consultation in each community has informed the way we are delivering on our election commitment to provide access to co-educational schooling for NSW families,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car, said in a statement.
“Hundreds of families on the Northern Beaches will now have guaranteed access to a co-educational high school for the first time.”
“Hundreds of families on the Northern Beaches will now have guaranteed access to a co-educational high school for the first time, reducing uncertainly for parents and travel time for many families. I want to thank the community for their engagement and the passion shown for public education on the Northern Beaches throughout the consultation.”
To accommodate the increase in students at NBSC Freshwater, the Department has committed to investing in upgrading infrastructure at the school.
This is not the only change.
Catchment adjustments to come
The news has been largely welcomed by the primary school parents in the Freshwater catchment that Manly Observer editor Kim Smee – herself a part of this cohort – spoke to, but their remains considerable angst over whether the catchment will be expanded to include more students currently attending Curl Curl North, so that they can remain with their peers and learn closer to home. We have queries this with the Department.
The Department has said that local intakes will be adjusted for all NBSC campuses and The Forest High School, with updates to, “provide improved alignment between primary schools and high schools, enabling more students to move from primary school to high school with their peers”.
However, the Department has stated it will wait until the end of Term 4 (less than 10 days away) to share the new boundary lines.
We will update here if we can access this information earlier.
Will the single sex schools remain?
As for the controversial Proposal D, to offer co-education at Mackellar Girls and Balgowlah Boys, the Department found this option “wasn’t the community’s preference”.
However, NBSC Balgowlah Boys campus will get a refurbishment and upgrade following a condition assessment of the school. Details will be announced in 2025.
“The school’s P&C and school community have long fought for the Balgowlah Boys upgrade,” James Griffin, Member for Manly, told Manly Observer this morning.
“The school’s P&C and school community have long fought for the Balgowlah Boys upgrade,”
“I’ve long argued for the school’s refurbishment to be put at the top of the list, particularly as it’s a school that shines a light on boy’s education with its outstanding academic achievements. I welcome the commitment made by Minister Car and want to acknowledge the Department listening to the community.”
He added he welcomes the Department’s announcement to ensure all Northern Beaches students have access to a co-education high school which reflects the overwhelming view of parents and is pleased their views were heard.
Survey says….
When asked to rank the proposals from most preferred to least preferred, the Department found:
- Proposal A (NSBC Freshwater becomes Year 7-12) had the highest score amongst NBSC Balgowlah Boys (46 per cent) and The Forest HS and other schools (40 per cent).
- There was a preference for Proposal A (Freshwater becomes 7-12) by the ‘future school community’ with 41 per cent of both primary and early childhood parents and carers selecting this as their most acceptable proposal.
- Parents and carers of NBSC Manly (44 per cent) and NBSC Cromer (43 per cent) selected Proposal A (Freshwater becomes 7-12) as their most preferred proposal.
- Students of NBSC Manly (41.8 per cent), NBSC Freshwater (42.9 per cent), NBSC Mackellar (43.6 per cent) and NBSC Cromer (38.9 per cent) selected Proposal C (expand intake adjustment areas for NBSC Cromer Campus and The Forest High School without a guaranteed co-educational option) as their most acceptable proposal.
- Proposal C was the most preferred proposal from the parents and carers of NBSC Mackellar Girls (41 per cent) and NBSC Balgowlah Boys (37 per cent).
- The remaining NBSC Freshwater, The Forest HS and other schools preferred Proposal D (Mackellar/Balgowlah become co-ed).
- Staff and Community selected Proposal C as their most preferred proposal.
There was also Proposal B (NBSC Manly campus to offer non-selective enrolment in Years 7 to 9) which didn’t seem to favour amongst any groups.
You can read the full findings here.
