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By Bruce McDougall and Kelvin Bissett
The Daily Telegraph August 4th 2008
FAMILIES are
dumping private colleges in droves as figures show a dramatic
turn-around in enrolments in high-quality public schools.
Rising interest-rate pressures and tighter household budgets
are adding momentum to the exodus from the non-government
sector, which has been gathering pace over the past five
years.
Secret enrolment figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph
from the Education Department, comparing student growth
since 2003, show evidence parents are reconsidering the
value of school fees as high as $20,000 a year.
The growth appears to be in public schools with good reputations
and strong academic results.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information identify
hundreds of schools whose kindergarten, Year 7 and Year
11 classes have stemmed the drift to private schools.
Across Sydney, in mortgage-belt areas and the more affluent
northern region, schools have in some cases doubled their
student intakes.
Successful public schools are challenging private schools
by bringing in stricter uniform and discipline policies,
wide subject choice, quality teachers and state-of-the-art
equipment and facilities.
Barnier Public, at Quakers Hill, has used a technology
focus to lift its kindergarten numbers from 78 to 109 despite
aggressive competition from private schools.
Some high schools, such as the Freshwater senior campus,
on the northern beaches, draw more than 50 per cent of
their students from the non-government sector.
Public schools are targeting specialist subjects such
as sport, art, music and dance - traditionally a strength
of the high-fee privates.
Enrolment figures show the move back to public education
begins in kindergarten but is most pronounced in Year 11,
when students begin their HSC studies.
At Cromer Public, on Sydney's northern beaches, kindergarten
enrolments have shot up from 83 to 130 in the past five
years.
When principal Greg Jones snapped up 10 students a $12,000-
a-year private college had failed to secure, the head of
the independent school rang him and said: "You have
just cost me $120,000."
The private school was forced to open an early childhood
class in a bid to snare more custom.
Mr Jones, who has 200 students learning the violin, said
yesterday: "This is a wonderful example of making
a private school change tack. We are now a threat."
Public primary and secondary schools are using the size
of the government system as a strength, grouping to share
facilities such as hi-tech science laboratories and even
forging links with universities.
Retrieved August 04, 2008 from http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,24123300-5006007,00.html
Reproduced with Permission from The Daily
Telegraph  '
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