Why international students love Sydney's in-demand public schools
A number of Sydney schools that have exceeded their enrolment cap do have international students, including Castle Hill, Cronulla, Prairiewood and Epping Boys high schools. They have been popular with students who come to Sydney to access the well-regarded Higher School Certificate curriculum.
In 2024, 33 international students attended Castle Hill High School, which is over capacity by 1043 students.
While those schools will honour agreements with existing students, the department said: 'NSW public schools can only take in international students when they have capacity. If a school has reached its enrolment cap, it cannot enrol new international students.'
International students in senior years pay about $19,000 each to study in Sydney, contributing about '$40 million a year' to the department's revenue, Wan said.
Between 2019 and 2024, Australia experienced a 23 per cent reduction in international school students. The number fell from 4551 in 2019 to 3500 in 2024.
Mechel Pikoulas, the principal of Strathfield Girls High School, which has 58 international students and is under capacity, said overseas students enrich classrooms.
'You have got the world in every classroom,' she said. 'You have that diversity in every classroom. They bring an incredible depth and intellectual quality [to the classroom]. They have academic rigour as well.
'There's definitely a lift in the academic push because they are coming with such high academic standards that lift our school across the board.'
Wan said it is also becoming increasingly difficult to find homestay families.
Families who once took in primary school and high school students are now turning to international university students, who pay more than school-aged children.
'There hasn't been as many families around. Higher education providers are offering crazy money per week for homestay families. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. It's putting more pressure on the supply of homestay.'
Wan said international students' parents use public primary and high schools as a pathway into Australian universities.
'They are impressed by Australia's education system,' he said. 'They know that our universities are amazing, and they know that our schools are a great way to get kids prepared and great results that will allow them to go on to university.
'They appreciate the different way we do things here. Students talk about the pressure they get back home, and families understand it's not sustainable – it's not the best environment for their child to thrive.'
Loading
Homestay provider Agnes Ong, of Global Experience, said some of the most in-demand areas among international parents are Hunters Hill, Strathfield, Burwood, Concord, Cabramatta, Kogarah and Mosman, but it is difficult to place students in some schools.
'Burwood and Strathfield is quite popular, but they are very strict [with catchment zones]. We are rarely able to place students because of that. There are not many families living in Burwood and Strathfield who are able to take under 18s,' Ong said.
'Some schools are quite flexible and allow students to be placed outside the catchment area as long as it's a reasonable travelling distance, up to 50 to 60 minutes. At the moment we have a lot of families in the St George, Beverley Hills, Northern Beaches, Canterbury and Parramatta areas.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Esperance's newest tourist attraction crafted by local Aboriginal group
An Esperance Aboriginal corporation has crafted the town's newest tourist attraction to brighten up and increase foot traffic at the coastal destination. The Esperance Chamber of Commerce and Industry previously proposed a new artwork to donate to the Shire of Esperance as part of its activation program to boost local spending following a downturn in retail sales and CBD visitation. Not-for-profit Indigenous group Mudjar Aboriginal Corporation was selected to design and hand-paint the piece, which chamber executive officer Jennifer Obourne said was to incorporate Australian culture while providing a unique opportunity for artists. 'We could have asked anybody to paint it, but if it's going to be a tourism piece, why not be a cultural tourism piece and acknowledge our shared history?' she said. 'It was a way to get young Aboriginal artists involved in the art scene to give them an opportunity and showcase the variety of skills that we've got in Esperance.' The completed piece, which took two months to craft, is named Mamang Dreaming and was inspired by cultural stories passed down through generations reflecting Aboriginal people's deep connection to the ocean. Group members Robert and Bobbi Woods built the piece, while Talisia Bourne and Robert hand-painted it. Ms Obourne said the structure was designed to be an easily transportable photo backdrop for the shire to showcase at a range of local events, which she believed would deliver the best tourism outcomes to the town. 'It's something to look at, it's something to take a photo of,' she said. 'You don't have to go out on to the rocks and take a dangerous photo, you can sit in the CBD with your coffee and take a great photo. 'When the cruise ships come, if we make it a warm and welcoming environment for them, they will get off the ship and come into town.' The donation of the artwork was accepted and approved by Esperance councillors at last month's recent meeting, and will be launched for viewing at the business and industry forum Converge Esperance 2025 on August 1. After the launch, the artwork will be in the CBD's post office square for people to visit and photograph,


West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
Path to going public on markets sped up for companies
Companies wanting to list on the stock market will be given a fast track by the corporate watchdog to go public. Changes put forward by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission will mean companies could reduce the time needed in order to take a company public by one week. The watchdog will now work with companies two weeks before documents laying out details about an initial public offering are made available to the public. ASIC says it will lessen the risk of potential investors being scared off by volatile markets. The changes are being rolled out as part of a two-year trial to reverse a decline in companies going public on the Australian market. The number of companies going public hit a 20-year low in 2024, with just 29 initial public offerings on the ASX. That compares with the 240 new listings on the ASX in 2021. Commission chair Joe Longo said the changes would provide greater confidence in the stock market. "Creating a more streamlined IPO process underscores our commitment to ensuring our public markets remain attractive to companies and investors," he said. "Greater deal certainty for companies should help deliver more IPOs, which means more investment opportunities so companies can expand, increase jobs and ultimately economic growth." The changes are being announced ahead of a symposium being held by the commission on Tuesday in Sydney about the future of Australia's markets. A discussion paper put out by the commission in February said the number of publicly listed companies had been declining in many developed markets over decades. "The Australian market is concentrated, with most companies in the financials and mining sectors, and less represented in sectors that will drive growth in our increasingly digital future," the paper said. "Many companies are choosing to stay private where new funding and sell downs are now more accessible, while others are choosing to list in the United States." Mr Longo said further reforms were being considered to boost the number of new listings. "While we do not see regulatory settings as the silver bullet, we have received lots of ideas and are considering further regulatory adjustments to support a strong and well-functioning market," he said.


West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
Aussies urged to charge ahead with household batteries
Australia could slash $4 billion a year off power bills by the end of the decade if households embrace solar batteries in larger numbers, a report forecasts. The Climate Council issued the prediction on Tuesday, finding the savings were possible if half of all homes with solar panels installed added batteries by 2030. But progress could also get a bigger boost from allowing more electric vehicles to charge up the national grid, if solar battery prices continued to fall, and if all new households were designed for rooftop solar and battery systems, it found. The report comes amid heightened demand for home batteries after the announcement of a $2.3 billion federal government scheme to subsidise their purchase by 30 per cent from July. The Climate Council report, called Battery Boom, found about 300,000 (eight per cent) of the four million Australian households with solar panels used batteries to store energy. If that figure was lifted to reach two million homes by 2030 - half of those with rooftop solar panels currently installed - household energy bill savings could hit $4 billion a year. Electricity bill savings could rise from $1500 with solar panels to $2300 a year after installing a battery, Climate Council spokesman Greg Bourne said, although further support would be needed to help some families deal with the up-front cost. "Batteries haven't penetrated far enough into those four million (solar) households, but it makes a huge difference when you start picking up the sunshine from midday and time-shifting it to when high cost of electricity comes in," he told AAP. "It will start as word-of-mouth in the neighbourhood and talk of 'my bill's half of what it was' or 'my bills are a quarter of what they were because we put a battery in' and that's part of the education process." A typical household battery is expected to cover its cost within 8.3 years without the upcoming subsidy, the report found, down from 10 years in 2022. The Climate Council report also found big battery storage projects planned for Australia had doubled over the past year to reach 20 gigawatts, and the price of large energy storage had fallen by 20 per cent. On a state-by-state basis, Western Australia led the nation for the most big battery projects with eight installed, Victoria boasted the most community solar batteries, and the Northern Territory had the most homes with solar batteries installed at 15.9 per cent. Battery storage could also get a significant boost from compatible electric vehicles, Mr Bourne said, as more vehicle-to-grid chargers were standardised and sold in Australia. Other recommendations in the report to boost battery storage included adding rooftop solar and storage capacity to the National Construction Code, expanding support for community batteries, and strengthening on-shore battery recycling schemes.