Kelvin Grove State College has exceeded its target class size for 2020. The school is one of over a hundred other schools that have gone beyond their class size and enrolment capacity, in the midst of an increasing concern about overcrowded classrooms in schools.
State schools across Queensland must ideally have a maximum of 25 students in each classroom for Prep to Year 3 and Year 11 to 12, whilst Years 4 to 10 classes must have a maximum of 28 students, per the Queensland Teachers’ Union. However, about 98 percent of state school secondary classes in Queensland have reached these maximum numbers and 94 percent are at capacity for primary state schools.
Kelvin Grove State College exceeded its capacity by three students in a class.
Classroom overcrowding isn’t a new problem in Queensland but it has become the norm based on these target numbers. Queensland Teachers’ Union believes that extra students in one class must be applicable only in “exceptional circumstance is described as ‘rare, unusual, atypical or unexpected.'”
Overcrowding can result in poor performances in students as teachers become overstretched to facilitate person-to-person direction due to the extra work.
According to the Education Department, the ideal class size targets are not a ceiling but a guide for the principals. Some classes might have extra students to keep all children in the same year levels together.
To help with the overcrowding at Kelvin Grove State College, the State Government opened Fortitude Valley State Secondary College in September 2020 to 150 students. Its population is expected to increase to 1,500 in five years, upon the completion of the senior building section and the sports centre.
This is the first new state high school to be built in the inner city in 50 years.
“Now that Stage 1 is complete, you have two distinct and completed precincts, including the Brookes Street Precinct with a learning centre, a performing arts centre and beautiful outdoor spaces; and the recently completed St Pauls Terrace Precinct which includes a seven-storey junior learning centre with specialist and general learning areas, and a lawn,” Education Minister Grace Grace said.
“And we are all looking forward to opening Stage 2 in 2023, which will deliver a sports facility and a secondary learning precinct for Years 10 to 12.
