23 Apr 2021
Canberra is a fast-growing city. The Education Directorate has made a number of changes to school Priority Enrolment Areas (PEAs) to respond to this growth, meet demand for enrolments and ensure there is a place for every child at their local primary or secondary school.
Two new PEA ‘Shared Zones’ will be implemented for the 2022 school year.
The first establishes a new PEA Shared Zone across Gungahlin and Dickson Colleges, meaning that residents of both Priority Enrolment Areas are able to apply to enrol across both Colleges.
- Gungahlin College and Dickson College enrolment applications will be subject to available capacity and enrolment criteria.
- Where an enrolment is not able to be accepted at a preferred site due to capacity constraints, it will be referred to the alternate College within the Shared Zone.
- Gungahlin College is a high utilisation College and will prioritise acceptance of enrolments from within the Gungahlin region up to available capacity.
- Consistent with existing PEA Shared Zones, students are guaranteed enrolment at one of the schools in the Shared Zone, but not necessarily the one which you select as your first preference.
The new suburbs of Kenny and Throsby will also be included in the Shared zone for Gungahlin and Dickson Colleges.
The second northside PEA change is a one-way Shared Zone for enrolments at Ainslie Primary School.
- For 2022 enrolments, families residing in the PEAs for Majura Primary School and North Ainslie Primary School will be able to apply to enrol at Ainslie Primary School.
- Note that as this is a one-way PEA Shared Zone, families residing in the PEA for Ainslie Primary School are still considered ‘out of area’ for any application to enrol at another school beyond Ainslie Primary School.
- This one-way Shared Zone means families are still guaranteed enrolment at their PEA school, but may also apply to enrol at Ainslie Primary School should they wish to.
Suburb demographics in the ACT shift over time and changes are made to PEAs to ensure we are responsive to population growth impacting ACT public schools.
Enrolments for all students from Preschool to Year 12 for the 2022 year open on 27 April 2021. Enrol by 4 June to get an offer from 26 July 2021.
For more information on enrolments, including PEAs, visit Enrolling in a Public School.