New high school for Googong

The new high school for Googong will be a co-educational, comprehensive high school, taking student enrolments from the local intake area.

The school is on track to open for Year 7 and Year 8 students in Term 1 2027.

This means that in 2028, the school will cater for Year 7, 8 and 9, and in 2029 will cater for Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 and so on. The new high school will see its first Year 7-12 cohort in 2031. Students in older year groups will continue to be accommodated at other local high schools. 

Following community consultation through December 2025 and January 2026, the new school name will be announced and enrolments will open during Term 1, 2026.

Consultation on the school values, logos and uniform will occur in early 2026. 

The intake area for the new high school for Googong has been finalised and can be seen on School Finder.

The school is on track to open for Year 7 and Year 8 students in Term 1 2027.

Following the Department’s merit selection processes, we are pleased to announce that Mr. Jai Lester commenced as the inaugural Principal of the new high school for Googong at the start of Term 1, 2026. 

Key leadership and regular teaching positions will be advertised in 2026 as per usual public school employment procedures.

As the project progresses, information will be shared with the community to prepare for the opening and operations of the new school. 

Consultation on the school values, logos and uniform will occur in early 2026. 

The site for the new high school for Googong exceeds the minimum size set by the department’s site selection guidelines. The high school will occupy approx. 5.4 ha of the overall 9 ha site owned by the department.

When planning for new schools or the expansion of existing schools, School Infrastructure uses long-term population and short-term enrolment projections to guide future investment decisions, including the location and scale of building works to meet service needs.

The new high school has capacity of up to 750 students which meets the projected enrolment demand. The school has been master planned to allow for future expansion if required.

The way we project enrolments is a process that is regularly reviewed. We are always refreshing and updating our methods and data, and we make sure that our work aligns with government policy. To learn more, you can read the school enrolment and population projections fact sheet.

Like all NSW government agencies, we use the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s Common Planning Assumption population projections for NSW. This helps us to plan consistently for the people of NSW. It’s an important step in distributing government resources equitably and efficiently.

When planning for new schools or the expansion of existing schools, School Infrastructure uses long-term population and short-term enrolment projections to guide future investment decisions, including the location and scale of building works to meet service needs.

The accommodation to be built will comply with the department’s Education Facilities Standards and Guidelines (EFSG). The EFSG determines the size of the hall and the specialty teaching spaces to be constructed (which will include a woodwork workshop, kitchen and science facilities).

The new high school for Googong will open on Day 1 Term 1 2027 and will include 26 modern classrooms, three support classrooms, a multipurpose hall and canteen, a library, multipurpose sports courts, specialist classrooms for science, performing arts and hospitality, wood and metal workshops, a sports field, and an agricultural plot.  

The Department of Education promotes sustainable travel opportunities, and the project includes several measures to support this, including:

• 5 wombat crossings to give pedestrians priority and increase the safety of students arriving by foot or bicycle

• 55 on-site car parking spaces for staff (including 2 accessible spaces)

• a dedicated school bus bay

• 17 kiss and drop bays, 133 m in length along Glenrock Drive with a separate 10 m long accessible space for kiss and drop south of the bus zone.

• 145 on-site bicycle and scooter racks (140 for students and 5 for staff)

Active and green travel is encouraged for both students and teachers. Car parking spaces will be provided for staff on-site, accessed via Wellsvale Drive. There is no on-site parking for students.

We are planning for all works to be completed to enable the school to be open for Day 1 Term 1 2027.

To minimise disturbances, several preventive measures are being implemented as part of the school's planning and development process. This includes dedicated kiss and drop zones, a separate loading bay that will have specific times for access and various acoustic treatments and landscape setbacks to minimise noise impacts from the school.

We will work with the construction contractors to manage impacts on the local community. We will ensure that neighbours are notified before work takes place.

Working hours are determined by the REF, however, the hours for standard construction works are:

• 7 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday

• 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays

• no work on Sundays or public holidays.

We will notify the community if we need to perform unexpected out-of-hours works.

The school is on track to open for Year 7 and Year 8 students in Term 1 2027.

Enrolments will open in early 2026 for this cohort.  Parents will be able to enrol their students if they live within the new intake area for the school.

The Year 6 to Year 7 transition expression of interest takes place during Year 6. More information about enrolment will be provided in early 2026.  

Schools may accept enrolments from outside their designated area if places are available. Such applications are subject to department policies. If the school is able to accommodate non-local enrolments, the school will advise you of any nonlocal enrolment criteria.

If the demand for local enrolment exceeds the number of places available, non-local enrolments will not be available. The department collects information to ensure a smooth enrolment process.

The new school will open for Year 7 and Year 8 students only in 2027. 

This staggered enrolment process is normal for new high schools across the state. The process of growing a school allows adequate numbers of students and teaching staff to deliver a full curriculum based on the elective preferences of the students at the school.

The gradual process allows the school to develop the culture, while establishing systems and processes in consultation with key stakeholders to reflect the school’s growing identity.   

The primary school and high school will function as two separate schools – preschool to Year 6 and Years 7 to 12.

Siblings of currently enrolled students will be assessed under the department’s enrolment policy.  

Families with a child currently enrolled at their assigned local school will retain the ability to enrol siblings at the same school, even if there are changes to the intake area boundaries that make their home address out-of-area. 

For more information about the department’s enrolment policy, please visit edu.nsw.link/Enrolment.

Many factors are considered to inform the development of new intake areas for example: 

• enrolment trends 
• opportunities to align with primary school local intake areas 
• public transport access 
• the size and utilisation rate of schools 
  
• the number of students living in each proposed intake area 
• the physical capacity of schools to enrol students.