Northern Beaches Secondary College (NBSC) Freshwater Senior Campus has been given an extra year as a senior-only campus.
Years 7 and 8 will join Freshie from 2027 and Years 7 to 12 from 2028 to allow more time for transition planning and to enable current students to complete the HSC.
The Government announcement followed a walkout by about 700 students at Freshwater Senior Campus on 21 February protesting against the move to a full high school from 2026. Other initiatives included a petition in 2024 with over 2000 signatures and a fundraising campaign (currently at over $12,000) to cover costs of taking legal action against the Government.
The walkout, organised by Year 11 students Aysha Hogan and Sophie Steele with the help of parents and Year 12 student leaders, saw students march down Harbord Road, cheering and waving ‘Save Freshie’ banners with passing motorists honking their horns in support.
“We really hope our message that we don’t want this to happen gets across, “Sophie told PL. “When we were accepted to the school, we were told that it was just a senior school. If it changes, the following grades will know they’re going into a 7-12 school, whereas we didn’t.”
“I’m four weeks into this school, and it’s honestly changed my whole perspective on education,” Sophie added.
Sophie’s mother, Katrina Sloane, is part of a parent consultative group and said the school community would not be giving up the fight to keep Freshie a senior campus.
She told PL that although her daughter Sophie will get to see out her schooling at Freshie, the year’s extension would ‘buy some time’ for the strong parent-student alumni who would keep fighting the changes.
“We are still proceeding with the hope of taking legal action, and that’s what the fundraising efforts are for – so that we can have legal representation,” said Katrina
Moving forward, a parent consultative group will meet on 27 February to formalise a Parent & Citizen Association (P&C) structure to support the school community and to discuss the next steps.
Former Freshie principal Frank Pikardt said moving to years 7 – 12 was ’a ludicrous decision.’
“It’s trying to go back to the past when the past didn’t work. And it won’t work again,” Mr Pikardt told PL.
“The reason they went to this model (senior school) was that public education on the Northern Beaches was dying and kids were going to private schools in droves. When Freshwater moved to a Senior Campus, it was transformational to public education. Everybody started to prosper.
“It’s the highest performing senior campus in the State – other colleges copy our model. And they’re destroying this. It’s ridiculous!”
Jane* has a year 11 student at the school. “It’s a unique campus,” she told PL. “What the (Government) consultation did was approach early childhood and primary school parents whose kids are not yet at a developmental stage where they understand the impact of changing a school like this. These are kids who’ve chosen Freshie because they needed something different for themselves educationally. You can’t translate that into years 7 to 12.”
*name changed on request.
