Applecross Senior High School in danger of being ‘overwhelmed’, plea to stop high-density development

Development pressures are continuing to build in Perth’s southern suburbs, with residents warning that an increase in housing may overwhelm their local high school. The City of Melville electors’ meeting on February 2 voted 24-1 that the city recognise capacity issues at Applecross Senior High School and remove housing density plans in the school’s catchment area if it cannot be shown the school will be able to cope with more students. Similar development pressures were cited for the meeting’s support of a similar pause on development in the nearby Canning Bridge precinct. People at the meeting said Canning Highway was unprepared for a surge in population and similar fears were raised for Applecross SHS. The school received a $63 million redevelopment in 2015 to boost its then-capacity to 1500 students. The project involved demolishing parts of the school, refurbishing a two-storey heritage building and building a new two-storey block, and landscaping and carparking. But the school now has more than 20 transportable classrooms and a student population of more than 2000. The State Government announced this month it would spend $7.9m building a two-storey modular learning hub with eight classrooms at Applecross SHS to cope with enrolment demand for the 2027 school year. Ardross resident Simon French told the electors’ meeting enrolments at the school had grown significantly and it was now operating “well beyond its capacity”. He said about half of the city’s proposed housing density increases were in the school’s intake area. “Yes, an upgrade is planned. The Department of Education plans to take the school to 2500 students in terms of built capacity, but even in the best case scenario that capacity will be quickly absorbed by current growth trends,” Mr French said. “Classrooms are overcrowded. Temporary solutions such as transportable classrooms are no longer sustainable, with the school running out of space for further transportable classrooms by 2026. “Unlike many schools, Applecross has no capacity to expand outward due to fixed boundaries, a heavily utilised shared oval, environmental constraints, including a local government heritage-listing, mature trees and black cockatoo habitat.” He said more developments in the area would “overwhelm” the school, which was already operating beyond its limits. “One of those developments alone is for 57 apartments, rejected by the city quite rightly but then overridden by the State Government and approved at seven stories in a four-storey zone,” Mr French said. “That’s just one development and there’s more to come. “Where do you think the additional capacity at Applecross high school is going to come? It’s simply not there.” The City of Melville council voted at its February 17 meeting to address the issues raised by the electors’ meeting in the review of its planning scheme and liaise with the State Government and Department of Education about the school’s capacity. A Department of Education spokesperson said the school had a permanent capacity for 1610 students. It has 23 transportable classrooms, which has taken its total capacity to about 2150 students. Last year it had about 1960 students enrolled. Student census data for this year is expected to be available later in Term 1. The spokesperson said enrolment growth was expected to continue at a slower rate. “Once the modular learning hub is delivered, the Department of Education will assess whether any transportable classrooms can be relocated,” they said. “The Department of Education will continue to monitor enrolments at the school, as it does with all public schools across the State.” The upgrade at Applecross SHS was part of $230m being spent by the State Government on public schools. Education Minister Sabine Winton said it was important that students and teachers had access to modern, quality learning and working environments. “This investment will help ensure new schools and state-of-the-art upgrades are delivered where they are needed most,” she said. Bateman MLA Kim Giddens said on social media the 2015 redevelopment did not account for future student growth and the school had “significantly” expanded beyond its planned capacity. During last year’s State election campaign, the Liberals pledged $15.6m to boost the school’s capacity. “At the moment, they have 1906 (students) to be precise, the capacity is 1600 and the way the intake is going I think in two years it will be 2200,” Liberal candidate Nitin Vashisht said.