Marsden Park, one of the fastest-growing areas in New South Wales, has overcrowded public schools—but families will soon have more options. This week, one of the state's largest co-located school campuses is opening. It comes as the state government races to build more than a dozen new schools across Western Sydney by 2027.
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00:00Getting their first look into their future, students are taking a tour of the two newest
00:08public schools in Western Sydney.
00:13Covering six hectares of land, the primary and secondary school in Malomba include 140
00:19classrooms, catering for a combined 3,000 students.
00:24I'm kind of scared and walking around, like just, am I going to get lost?
00:28After construction began in October 2023, the finishing touches are now being put in
00:33place to welcome students from kindergarten to year six, while just year seven to nine
00:38will move from their temporary facilities next door.
00:42It's very close to our house, so just 300 metres away, so no rush in the morning.
00:48It means more choice for families in the Marsden Park area.
00:52Until now, it's had just two permanent public schools for the more than 30,000 people that
00:57live there.
00:58Northbourne Public has been forced to take double its original capacity, less than four
01:03years after it opened.
01:05The de-mountable that I was in was really not spacious.
01:09This is going to really ease the pressure.
01:12It's going to be a bit of a release valve for this part of northwest Sydney.
01:17An audit last year showed the state severely underestimated just how quickly this area
01:22would grow over 10 years, with Marsden Park's current population surpassing initial government
01:28projections by more than 11,000.
01:32These are just two of the 18 new and upgraded schools opening day one this term, some of
01:38which are just temporary.
01:40But in western Sydney, many are further down the pipeline.
01:44Three of those will be in Box Hill, where enrolments have grown by more than 1,000 per
01:49cent over five years.
01:51We will be making sure schools are future-proof, and where we need to build schools, we'll
01:55build them.
01:56A lesson families here hope won't soon be forgotten.