Central Coast Public Schools - Life in a demountable

It's a story you've heard before. Overcrowded public schools, ancient buildings that need repair, an endless sea of demountables and no Government who wants to take responsibility for the physical state of public education.

Last night, at our monthly P and C we were updated on the kindergarten enrolments for 2013. The school expects 89 bringing our overall school numbers to around 510. Many schools here on the Central Coast float around that number, many are more than that and of course some are less. My main concern as a parent is that of our 20 classrooms, only 11 are permanent, the rest are demountables. Some of these have been at our school for over 25 years. In 2013 we will be requesting our 10th demountable.

Last year our P and C conducted an audit of our existing ocean of demountables. The results were dire. The condition of many was appalling. My son's classroom had a leaking roof so a bucket was placed permanently on rainy days. This lead to mould, dampness and carpet that needed to be replaced. What also ensued was disruption to the classroom. Other demountables at the school were rusty and had blocked pipes and gutters. I guess that's what you get when you've been there for 25 years. Mid year the Department maintenance people came to see the condition of our 'portable' family. The demountables were tarted up but still remain.

As the Department of Education sent our 9th demountable this year, our small playground was made even smaller. As there doesn't appear to be anywhere else for the new demountable to go, the top playground will be it's resting place.

In May this year, this issue was discussed in NSW Parliament. Of all the schools on the Central Coast, our school, Point Clare Public, topped the list with 9 demountables - our nearest neighbour was Woy Woy Public School with 6. In the Wyong electorate three schools had 6 demountables on site.

So far, even as Member for Gosford Chris Holstein asks us to keep reminding him of this issue, nothing has been done. When I heard that recently the State Government was going to spend $20 million dollars on upgrading and streamlining our State roadsigns, I got to thinking about my son and his classmates, their experience in mouldy, damp demountables and thought that I must have been dreaming.

Postscript: here are the classroom figures for all Central Coast State Electorates - Gosford, Wyong, The Entrance and Terrigal as of May 2012. I retrieved this figures from the NSW Parliament Legislative Council May 31 2012 document. 

As of May 2, 2012


1. The Gosford electorate Primary Schools with numbers of demountables:

Central Mangrove Public School - 1

Chertsey Public School - 1

Gosford Public School - 2

Kariong Public School - 2

Peats Ridge Public School - 1

Point Clare Public School - 9

Somersby Public School - 1

Spencer Public School - 1

Umina Public School - 1

Woy Woy

The Gosford electorate High Schools with numbers of demountables:

Brisbane Water Secondary College Umina Campus - 4

Gosford High School - 1

Henry Kendall High School – 13


2. The Wyong electorate Primary Schools with numbers of demountables:

Berkeley Vale Public School - 6

Blue Haven Public School - 1

Kanwal Public School - 5

Northlakes Public School - 2

Tacoma Public School - 1

Toukley Public School - 6

Tuggerawong Public School - 2

Warnervale Public School - 1

Woongarrah Public School - 6

Wyong Grove Public School – 1

The Wyong electorate High Schools with numbers of demountables:

Gorokan High School - 2

Northlakes High School – 3


3. The Entrance electorate Primary Schools with numbers of demountables:

Bateau Bay Public School - 3

Brooke Avenue Public School - 4

Lisarow Public School - 5

The Entrance Public School - 3

Tuggerah Public School - 3

Glenvale School (SSP) - 2

The Entrance electorate High Schools with numbers of demountables:

Lisarow High School - 2

Narara Valley High School - 9

Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College Berkley Vale - 1

Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College The Entrance – 3


4. The Terrigal electorate Primary Schools with numbers of demountables:

Avoca Beach Public School - 3

Brisbania Public School - 1

Empire Bay Public School - 1

Erina Heights Public School - 3

Holgate Public School - 2

Terrigal Public School – 3

Wamberal Public School – 2


The Terrigal electorate High Schools with numbers of demountables:

Erina High School - 6

Kincumber High School - 10

Terrigal High School - 2