hen Koreena Carlton sees a parent pushing a pram from her office window, she often grabs a brochure, rushes outside and introduces herself. “I will ask them how old their kids are, if they want to come check out the school,” says the principal of Debney Meadows primary school, in Melbourne’s inner north.
According to the Victorian education department’s “enrolment pressure index”, which measures demand across state schools, Debney Meadows was at 14% capacity in 2022 – when the most recent data was compiled. The majority of its students are children of recent migrants and refugees, and 80% are from the most disadvantaged quarter of the Australian community, according to the My School website.The middle-class families are trying to essentially avoid people from lower income backgrounds.
“There’s often a lot of euphemisms that people will use. They might say a certain school looks very rough. That’s often code for ‘there’s a lot of kids who look like they might be from poor backgrounds’ or from certain ethnic backgrounds.”Carlton Gardens primary school was bursting at the seams at 119% of capacity in 2022, while Carlton North primary school was at 96%.
Carlton says she is aware of several local families who have chosen to send their children to schools outside the zone.“I don’t know what it is. I’m not sure why people aren’t choosing the school. It would be lovely to see people come through the doors and see the school, see the work that we do, the level of community engagement that we have.