While home-education surged, the Brisbane School of Distance Education – where learning is delivered through online lessons – had one of the biggest drops, with Prep to Year 6 enrolments declining 26 per cent.
English, a researcher at QUT, said families were increasingly looking for choices that better met their young person’s needs rather than automatically choosing the local state school.
She said the pandemic gave parents a “window” into their child’s classroom that exposed bullying and other concerns, and also gave some professionals greater work flexibility.
“They look at the local state school, and they think, you’re so constrained by overarching forces of what you can and can’t do,” she said.
“They think their child is a square peg in a round hole, and they don’t want their child to lose those edges.”
Green said her daughter Pixie, 11, had ADHD and autism and dreaded going to school. But home-schooling meant the “quirky, sweet kid” who loved reading, writing and music was finally able to be herself.
“There was nothing more you want than for your child’s wellbeing to be good,” she said. “It was heartbreaking what we went through.
“There’s not a lot of other options for kids who are struggling in mainstream unless you’ve got money to maybe go to an independent school.”
Nikki Green and Pixie.
Griffith University Professor Beryl Exley said families were making conscious decisions to align education to their students’ needs, considering teaching philosophies, logistics, and where their child would thrive academically and socially, with some seeking specialised subjects, inquiry-based learning, or a focus on the International Baccalaureate.
“Many parents and carers are strategically enrolling their children in recognised feeder primary schools to improve their chances of gaining admission to certain state or independent secondary schools,” she said.
Changing demographics, including housing affordability in certain catchments, also had an impact on school trends, English said.
Brisbane families are also having fewer children – there were 416 babies fewer born in 2019 compared to 2016 – but this is offset by increasing migration to the city.
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Some shrinking schools did have smaller Prep cohorts. For example, Aspley State School had 114 Prep students in 2021 and only 84 last year, as it shrunk by 6 per cent overall.
While some state schools shrunk, there were hundreds more students enrolled in private primary schools in 2024 compared with 2021. Some, such as Brigidine College, have recently introduced year 5 and 6 to their high school offerings.
Meanwhile, state schools in the affluent suburbs of Graceville and Ascot had noticeably fewer students enrolled in Year 5 last year compared to Year 4 the year before – suggesting some had left for Year 5 entry at private schools.
The biggest shrink at a state primary school was at Hendra State School – already Brisbane’s smallest state primary school – where enrolments halved.
Hendra State School is Brisbane’s smallest state primary school.Credit: Felicity Caldwell
It was not just tiny schools that became smaller, with larger schools shrinking, like Jindalee (down 20 per cent to 587 students), Bulimba (down 18 per cent to 660 students), and Grand Avenue in Forest Lake (down 16 per cent to 983 students).
Enrolment management plans kept a lid on some schools, with strict rules that did not allow children living out of the local catchment area to enrol. For example, Ironside State School had 1080 students in 2021, and dropped 13 per cent to 937 last year.
Some state primary schools bucked the trend, including Pallara State School, which surged by 48 per cent to 1283 students, while Stafford Heights, Hamilton, Petrie Terrace, Moorooka, Kenmore, Newmarket and Mayfield state schools all increased by more than 20 per cent.
Among the top 20 primary schools for growth, six were over-capacity last year – Kenmore, Enoggera, Sunnybank Hills, Mackenzie, Wishart and Brisbane Central state schools.
Pixie started home-schooling last year.
An education department spokesman said they were committed to ensuring all students had access to a world-class education, and pointed out demand for state schools remained strong, with almost two-thirds of Queensland students attending a state school.
“Many schools are subject to fluctuations in enrolments as a result of demographic factors in the communities they serve,” he said.
“Changes in the school-aged population as well as local population movements affect individual school enrolments.”
The spokesman said the department prioritised relief for schools experiencing catchment pressures by expanding existing schools or building new ones.
For Pixie, home-schooling allowed her to learn at her own pace. She undertook a special effects make-up course as part of her arts curriculum, and had a regular schedule of social activities.
Pixie said she felt less anxious and more free. “I can run outside and have breaks when I need.
“I feel like home-school kids have been so much more accepting, and I was masking a lot in school, but now I’m not. I get to be myself.”
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