Six public high schools and colleges in Canberra will face strict limits on accepting students from outside their local priority areas, as the ACT Education Directorate moves to spread enrolments more evenly across the city. Documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal intake caps will be applied at Canberra High School, Melrose High School, UC High School Kaleen, Hawker College, Narrabundah College, and UC College Lake Ginninderra.
The push for an even spread of students
The new policy aims to ensure a balanced distribution of students across the government school system, even when schools have the physical space to accept more. During enrolment periods, Canberra's government schools are classified as either Category A or B. Category B schools, like Melrose High, can accept out-of-area students, but parents must provide a specific reason, such as wellbeing needs, a unique curriculum offering, or because a sibling already attends.
Melrose High School, located in Pearce, serves residents in suburbs including Chifley, Farrer, Isaacs, Mawson, O'Malley, Pearce, and parts of Phillip. During the mid-year "batch round" enrolments, the school was given a cap of 60 out-of-area placements for Year 7.
In an email to principals, Michael Crowther, the executive branch manager for planning and analytics, highlighted a recurring issue. He noted that some high schools and colleges with high capacity were enrolling large numbers of out-of-area students in the bulk round, which later forced them to turn away late-arriving in-area students or those with individual wellbeing circumstances.
High demand and the impact on other schools
The FOI request focused specifically on Melrose High, with released documents showing consistently high demand from families living in the Tuggeranong region. Between 2020 and 2024, a significant 56 to 60 percent of Melrose High's student body came from outside its official enrolment area.
Education Directorate officials expressed concern in 2024, stating that this trend was negatively impacting enrolments at downstream schools like Wanniassa, Namadgi, and Caroline Chisholm. They identified the school's diverse language program as a major drawcard, with more than half of the 444 out-of-area students in one year citing it as their primary reason for choosing Melrose. The enrolment branch suggested increasing language subject diversity at other schools as a potential solution.
For 2025, a cap of between 40 and 60 out-of-area students was proposed. Officials noted a 40-student cap would be fairer for Tuggeranong schools, while a 60-student cap would allow for a "smoother/kinder transition" for Melrose High itself.
Principal's concerns and the enrolment shortfall
When the caps were first proposed, Melrose High principal Diana Whymark pushed back, warning that students might instead opt for non-government schools. She noted that many students offered a place at Melrose were also waiting to hear from private colleges like Mary MacKillop College.
Despite the cap, the school anticipated enrolling 180 Year 7 students for the 2025 intake. However, by the end of July, they had only received 78 in-area applications and had filled their 60 out-of-area spots. Of those 60, 24 had siblings at the school, 29 cited curriculum reasons, and seven were enrolled for wellbeing.
"This is well short of the anticipated 180 we were aiming for," Ms Whymark said at the time. "I am concerned that I am not going to meet this goal. Where are the rest of the anticipated 111 in-area students?"
The directorate assured her that enrolments typically continued after the bulk-round offers. In a concession to support the transition, they allowed Ms Whymark to continue accepting sibling applications even after the cap was met.
By September 3, 2025, the school had received 84 in-area and 122 out-of-area applications. The school and the directorate jointly declined 53 out-of-area applications. The rejections included:
- 34 wellbeing applications
- 14 language pathway applications
- 1 legal application
- 3 sibling applications (where the other siblings had left the school)
In total, only 69 out-of-area offers were sent, most for language pathway reasons.
Melrose High's enrolments have been in decline since 2021, a trend the Education Directorate expects to continue until 2029. However, longer-term population growth associated with the next stage of Canberra's light rail network is projected to boost student numbers again in the future.
