Urgent need for new primary school in Leichhardt region

The Leichhardt Council will be taking steps to provide a new primary school for the Inner West suburbs in the near future, after an independent report found the potential for educational undersupply expected to affect the region in the coming years. With the nation's population growing, this could be a great opportunity for the expansion of the region's infrastructure. 

Following the release of the report, the Leichhardt Council has written to New South Wales Education Minister Adrian Piccoli with evidence about the undersupply in hopes of securing a new primary school for the region. The report highlighted the state government's underestimation of the size of Leichhardt's baby boom.

The forecast changes between 2001 and 2021 are quite dramatic. For children aged under four years old, the estimated number of new kids is 878, or an increase of 33 per cent. Furthermore, the number of children between five and 11 is expected to grow by 1,506, or 57 per cent. 

Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne said this shortage could be bad news for children in the future, and might result in students being turned away from primary schools simply due to the lack of space. 

"It is now clear that we will need a new primary school in the Leichhardt municipality sooner rather than later. The demographic projections commissioned by Council show that without urgent action now, the childcare crisis and school shortage will worsen significantly in the years to come," said Cr Byrne in a March 31 statement. 

"These projections come on top of figures showing that primary schools in the Leichhardt area have already experienced substantial growth in enrolments between 2006 and 2013."

This could be interesting for owners of Inner West property, especially those with young children approaching school age in the near future.