Miners Rest parents who were angry their children would be forced to attend school across the Western Highway at Yuille Park are relieved after the education department changed the school zone boundaries to tie them to Miners Rest Primary School.
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Residents of about 20 streets in the Macarthur Park estate found last week they were zoned to Yuille Park P-8 Community College, not the closer Miners Rest Primary School, after the state government released its new Find My School website.
After learning of parent anger at the zones, education minister James Merlino varied the boundaries to include the estate in the Miners Rest Primary zone.
"We have made a variation to the Miners Rest Primary School's zone to remove uncertainty for local parents. The zone now includes homes north of the Howe Street and Western Freeway interchange," Mr Merlino said
"This part of the boundary had not changed and had been the same for a long time. Students living in this area of Miners Rest were previously able to enrol at the school given there was excess capacity to enrol out-of-zone students."
The Miners Rest Primary School population has trebled over the past six years to more than 350 pupils, with the state government committing $21.6 million to build a new school.
"They're building a new school so it doesn't make any sense to be cutting people off," said Glenn Bell, who lives in the Macarthur Park estate and whose two daughters attend MRPS.
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"I'm glad that common sense has prevailed in this case." Mr Bell said the estate, and new estates being built nearby, were full of young couples and families.
"Our neighbours kids are at kinder at Miners Rest and even though the school runs the kinder, that wouldn't have guaranteed them a spot," he said.
Minister Merlino said the department would listen to community feedback on school zones.
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