Yr 7 Enrolment Update

To November 2016, Northcote High School has received over 500 applications for placement for Year 7 in 2017, well beyond the school’s capacity to accommodate. This phenomenon of increased demand has been the subject of several articles in the press and in our newsletters, and in Compass announcements to families over the last few years. Higher density housing in inner Melbourne and a "population bubble" moving through our local primaries all feed into this problem. A significant new trend includes families purchasing or leasing in the neighbourhood area to access the school.

As outlined in the Department of Education and Training’s (DET’s) Placement Policy guidelines, where there are insufficient places at a school for all students who seek entry, students are enrolled in the following priority order:

1. Students for whom the school is the designated neighbourhood school.

2. Students with a sibling at the same permanent address who are attending the school at the same time. (This means, non-local siblings)

3. Where the regional director has restricted the enrolment, students who reside nearest the school. (This is not relevant to Northcote High School, as the school does not have a officially designated and restricted zone yet)

4. Students seeking enrolment on specific curriculum grounds.

5. All other students in order of closeness of their home to the school.

6. In exceptional circumstances, compassionate grounds.

As many families would be aware, for enrolment in 2017 we have not been able to accomodate all (category 2) non-local sibling claims, and have not taken any curriculum claims.

The exact breakdown of Year 7 enrolment for next year is

- 90%  children who are local to the school

- 9%  non-local siblings (taken in order of closeness to the school)

- 1%  students placed after appeal to DET

There are about 30 non-local siblings who have not been placed. The likelyhood we would find ourselves in this very difficult situation was forshadowed several years ago. It has also been the subject of discussion with DET for some time.