Gordon growth means St Patrick's Catholic Primary School will have its biggest prep class in 2023

Gordon's St Patrick's Catholic Primary School is preparing to welcome its biggest prep class ever as the town experiences a population boom.

Next year 25 fresh new faces will start their first year of school at St Patrick's, more than three times the size of the current prep grade.

The one big influx will not only increase the school's total enrolment by 45 per cent, it will mean more than a third of its students are in the one year level.

"It will be a momentous year," principal Paul McDowell said.

"We really are the changing face of the growth of Moorabool. We've got 13 new families joining us next year which is indicative of the growth of the shire and also about the very high-quality education that we offer."

Gordon has welcomed 70 new families over the past five years, with the population growing from 1151 in 2016 to 1393 in 2021, according to the 2021 census.

Overall it saw the largest increase in the number of people, and second largest growth in the number of families, of smaller towns across the Ballarat/Moorabool/Hepburn region across the five-year period.

The massive prep intake for 2023 is causing some growing pains for the school as they forecast enrolments will continue to skyrocket in the coming years.

"We've got a master plan for future growth and we are working to redesign the school, but we are open to federal and state funding to help us for next year," Mr McDowell said.

The school is in talks to take over a building beside the school to grow into.

"Our enrolment will be just on 70 next year - up from 48 this year - and going forward we think it will be in the 80s and 90s," Mr McDowell said. "We base that not just on birth rate but also as a growing community and the fact parents are identifying that St Patrick's is a good place for their children."

Next year the school will employ three new staff - two teachers and one in administration - to help deal with the growth.

Although the prep class of 2023 at St Patrick's Gordon will have experienced a relatively uninterrupted year of kindergarten this year, Mr McDowell said they would still need some extra support having grown up throughout the COVID pandemic.

"We are still looking at children who are COVID-affected. There's initially a lot of understanding of routine and that group dynamic that's missing," he said.

St Patrick's incoming foundation pupils will begin their transition program next month but already have t-shirts the school has given them and Mr McDowell has spied them being worn around local towns.

"We have children from Ballan, Mount Egerton, Gordon, Wallace, Bungaree and near Clarkes Hill. Parents travel to be part of our community which is a string in our bow" and recognition of the school's staff and program.

The school will farewell five year six students this year, and six next year and most other year levels comprise 10 to 12 pupils.

IN OTHER NEWS

In addition to finding classroom space for is growing student numbers, St Patrick's Primary Gordon is also overhauling its outdoor areas with work starting on an eco-village in the playground thanks to a grant from Moorabool Wind Farm.

It will build on the school's approach to early learning through outdoor educational and tactile discovery play in addition to regular literacy, numeracy and STEAM subjects which from next year will start in prep.

The growth is not confined to St Patrick's, with nearby Gordon Primary School also experiencing a surge in enrolments, with the school growing from about 60 students to almost 130 over the past five years.

Mr McDowell is no stranger to rapidly growing schools.

This year he made the move back to the Ballarat region after working at Werribee's Our Lady of the Southern Cross Primary School in Manor Lakes which grew from 60 pupils to more than 500.

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