After years of campaigning, one of Sydney’s fastest growing areas finally has a public primary school. Until now, students at Gregory Hills had been crammed into demountable classrooms as enrolments surged.
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00:00The students of Gregory Hills Public School have given their shiny new campus an A+.
00:08They've been at a makeshift facility since the start of last year and the reviews for
00:15that aren't exactly glowing.
00:17In the old school we were like squished up and it was a very small classroom.
00:22It was like squishy and we had nothing to do.
00:26Four hundred children moved in this week.
00:28The school has capacity for more than 1,000 and it'll need it.
00:33It had the seventh largest growth of any area in the state.
00:38An audit has shown Sydney's ten fastest growing areas for enrolments are located in the city's
00:43west.
00:44The student population in these areas has more than doubled in five years.
00:49Getting Gregory Hills Public School built has been quite the saga.
00:52Labor says local parents were told they were getting a school as early as 2012.
00:57How good is this classroom?
00:59In many cases people would have bought home and land packages expecting the school would
01:03have been completed.
01:04Funding for the school was first set aside in 2018.
01:08In 2021 frustrated parents crashed a government press conference.
01:12Is someone planning for next year's huge influx of kindergarten students at Gregory Hills?
01:16We had 240 this year.
01:18Last year, two months after taking office, Premier Chris Minns turned façade.
01:22Now that's the first time I've ever done it.
01:25Well they've put the finishing touches to it, but this was one of the many infrastructure
01:29projects that the Liberals and Nationals planned and funded.
01:32It's the activism of the local community and Labor in opposition that got it built.
01:37During construction, classes were held at a temporary school in these demountables next
01:42door.
01:43Next year the site will be taken over by Year 7 students, while a high school is being built
01:47nearby.
01:48For now, Gledswood Hills High is a paddock.
01:51The government hopes to open the school in 2027.