Population bomb: Berry says mistakes in Gungahlin schools won't be repeated in Molonglo

The ACT Government says it won’t repeat the mistakes of its schools program in Gungahlin where it had to play catch-up to meet an unexpected population boom.

Education Minister Yvette Berry was speaking at Garran Primary School, where she and Chief Minister Andrew Barr were spruiking a $130 million upgrade as part of the government’s updated $1 billion education infrastructure program over the next decade.

That includes the growing Molonglo Valley, where community representatives have been pushing for more clarity on when the Molonglo centre and the accompanying college will be delivered.

Ms Berry said the experience in Gungahlin, where new schools rapidly grew out of capacity, would help the government avoid repeating the mistakes in Molonglo, along with assistance from the ANU School of Demography.

“I think Gungahlin has provided us with all of the opportunities to learn and to build better and to do better and understand demographic growth and change across our city,” she said.

“In Molonglo, we’re keeping a very close eye on that. We’ve got a really close working relationship with the demographers to have input from them in understanding where the growth is occurring.

“We know when children are born, we have a good estimate of where they’re going to go to school, and where across the city that they’re going to live.”

Ms Berry said a new college in Molonglo would probably be delivered before the end of the decade, but the current feasibility study would clarify that.

“If we need to bring it on sooner, we can,” she said.

A new early childhood and primary school is expected to open in Whitlam in 2026.

Garran Primary is one of a number of schools in established areas being upgraded to cater for a growing population, and capacity will rise from about 600 to more than 900.

This recognises the apartment boom in the Woden Town Centre, where Ms Berry said a primary and high school would eventually be built to cater for that growth, but not before schools surrounding the town centre are full.

“There’s no point building empty schools,” she said.

Ms Berry said the old CIT site had been earmarked for a new high school and the government was looking at reserving land for a multi-storey primary school.

She said Belconnen Town Centre would also need a school at some point.

“We accept that,” she said.

Other pinch points are the inner north where Majura and North Ainslie schools are being upgraded and the inner south where the capacity of Telopea Park and Narrabundah College are also expanding.

“We need to keep an eye on population growth as densification continues to make sure that we have places all across the city in their local schools, that we build new schools where we need more,” Ms Berry said.

“We need to expand in those ways, but we also need to expand existing schools to make sure that they can account for that growth as well.”

The ACT Council of P&C Associations and community councils have been pushing for the government to consider so-called vertical schools in these high-growth areas where land is at a premium.

Gungahlin College is being expanded and planning is underway for a new college in Gungahlin at Gold Creek to be delivered by the end of 2029.

Shirley Smith High School in the east Gungahlin suburb of Kenny will open its doors next year.

In Belconnen, the Ginninderry development is driving population and an early childhood and primary school will open in Strathnairn in 2025.

Ms Berry said $100 million had been devoted to works at public schools to bring facilities up to scratch.