PARENTS have been left angry and confused after the shock announcement last week of the ditching of plans for the opening of two new schools in the area next year.


Education Minister Grace Grace said the proposed Collingwood Park State High School and a primary school at Ripley Valley would instead open their doors in 2025.

“Stabilising enrolments mean there is currently capacity for around 600 extra students in the existing local state schools,” Ms Grace wrote.

“[The] new state school is therefore not required as soon as anticipated.

“Low birth rates from 2017 onwards, as well as a significant reduction in overseas enrolments due to Covid, means enrolments have stabilised and growth pressures have eased in some areas.”

Parent Carla, who wished for her surname not to be published, said the decision would prove a costly one for her family who is renting while their new home is built at The Pocket, Collingwood Park.

“We sold our house at Redbank Plains to be closer to the catchment area,” she said.

“It has thrown all our plans out of the window.

“I had to sign off work for a while when I heard the school wasn’t going ahead as planned. It was a real shock.

“We would have bought in another suburb and found a more suitable option if we had known this was on the cards.

“The rug has been pulled from under us without any proper explanation or apology.”

Last year, a statement on the Education Department website read: “The new [Collingwood Park State High School] will increase capacity in the local schooling network and provide enrolment relief to Redbank Plains State High School and other local schools.”

Another parent Megan, who wished for her surname not to be published, said the Minister’s statement about falling birth rates did not make sense.

“Children born after 2017 are in Prep at the oldest.

“That slow rate of birth won’t matter for another six years.

“If enrolments have stagnated at our high schools, it’s because families are desperate to send their children anywhere else.

“Our primary schools are ballooning and more families are moving in every week.”

An Education Department spokeswoman said enrolments at Collingwood Park and the Ripley Valley “had grown at a more modest rate than prior to the pandemic”.

“Based on preliminary 2023 enrolment data, Ripley Valley State School has more than a 400 spare enrolment capacity this year, and, based on Queensland Government Statisticians Office (QGSO) enrolment forecasts, the school will have more than 250 spare enrolment capacity in 2024, with further growth in the catchment projected,” the spokeswoman said.

She said Bellbird Park State Secondary College and Redbank Plains State High School combined have more than 550 pupils spare capacity this year, with QGSO enrolment forecasts showing more than a 500 spare capacity in 2024.

Bundamba MP Lance McCallum said he acknowledged parents would be upset.

“I understand and am sorry for any disappointment due to the change to the scheduled opening date,” Mr McCallum said.

“Our community remains well covered by existing state school catchments that deliver world-class education for local families.”

However, Former Bundamba MP Jo-Ann Miller said she had been dealing with disgruntled parents since the announcement.

“Many parents are distraught by the news,” Ms Miller said.

“Some of them are now faced with enrolling their children in another school for a year and paying out twice when their child starts at the new high school. And all this during a cost-of-living crisis.

“This whole area is absolutely booming; parents cannot understand this sudden change of plan.”

One new school will open in the Ipswich region in 2024, that is Bellbird Park primary school.

University of Queensland demographer Associate Professor Elin Charles-Edwards said pressure from families moving interstate during Covid was in fact putting extra pressure on existing infrastructure.

“We’ve gone from a period of really quite low net internal migration growth to this high level,” she said.

“Places like … the Ripley Valley … we’re going to see a lot of growth.”

The Ipswich City Council Quarterly Report Card for December 2022 showed the top five suburban hotspots for new dwellings and population growth were Ripley, Springfield Lakes, Spring Mountain, Redbank Plains and Bellbird Park.