News
13 December, 2025
Premier Minns taken to task over school closure.
The Penrose community is not about to take the decision to place its school into recess lying down.
The Penrose community is not about to take the decision to place its school into recess lying down.
Parents have warned the NSW Government that while the community may be small, it will continue to fight to have the decision overturned.
Premier Chris Minns has now been dragged into the controversy after telling Ben Fordham’s Radio 2GB program on December 2 that he will into look the legality of the Department of Education’s decision.
The community is now calling for an immediate halt to any plans to place the school into recess at the end of the 2025 school year “until the legal basis (for the Department’s decision) is clarified”.
It is also calling on the Premier and the NSW Minister for Education to meet with parents and students.
In its latest salvo, the Penrose P&C Association has taken aim at it what it says has been a series of inconsistent statements and “shifting legal arguments” from the Department of Education.
Local parent and P&C secretary Ellie Egan said the Department’s claim that there had been “extensive consultation” about the decision did not match the “lived experience” of families.
“There was one community meeting in September but the Department representative said they were there to listen so didn’t have any answers for the community,” Ms Egan said.
“They undertook to respond to the community about their questions, but that did not occur.”
Mrs Egan said the Department was already declining enrolments at Penrose for the 2026 school year by September and the P&C believes consultation was just a formality.
“Calling the process ‘extensive consultation’ is misleading and deeply disrespectful,” Ms Egan said.
The Department of Education, the NSW Primary Principals’ Association and the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council have developed protocols to guide consultation processes when a school’s future educational provision is being considered.
A public school may be placed in recess, closed or merge when there are questions about the school’s ongoing viability and local circumstances result in declining enrolments.
In school communities where these questions or circumstances arise, local Directors are supposed to lead a local consultation process that engages parents, staff and local community members and allows school communities to consider options for the school’s future educational provision.
“While there are no set timeframes, in general consultation is conducted and an agreement reached within a 12-month period,” information provided by the Department of Education states.
At the heart of the matter moving forward will be whether or not Penrose Public School is a one teacher school and what the Department was legally required to do under Education Act before announcing the school was being placed in recess.
The Department contends Penrose is a one-teacher.
Premier Chris Minns is under the impression it is a two-teacher school.
However the Department’s own website lists the name of principal Fiona McCarthy and three other members of the school’s teaching staff.
Also at question will be whether or not placing a school into recess represents closure – as many people in the Penrose community fear is the Department’s intent.
Ms Egan accused the Department of “scrambling” to find a legal pathway to justify its decision given what is required under the Act for a school closure is more stringent than what is required for a decision to place a school into recess.
“The ordinary meaning of closure and close includes any period where the school is not open or accessible for the education of students.
“As a result, the recess next year is a closure - students will not be able to attend the school.”
The P&C has also dismissed the Department’s claims that the decision to place the school into recess was made in the best interests of students given that students were “thriving” at the school with “proven academic progress”.
“The Department’s suggestion that closure is for their benefit ignores evidence, ignores our submission and ignores what parents know about their own kids.
“Our students are not being left behind, they are flourishing here.”
The P&C has also refuted the Department’s claims about declining enrolments at the school.
“In reality, enrolment at Penrose has increased to six children currently and future enrolments are likely to be higher, even on the Department’s own numbers,” Ms Egan said.
According to the Department’s own projections, there will be 16 students at the school by 2031.
“Work by the P&C has identified additional families who wanted to enrol in 2026 and with more development on the way, enrolments are likely to further increase,” Ms Egan said.
“If the Department’s own predictions say there will be 16 students in the future, does this mean that all small schools with numbers of 16 or under are at risk?”
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson has told The Southern Wire that schools are only moved into recess after “extensive” consultation with parents, carers, stakeholders and the community.
“A sustained decline in enrolments can lead to consultation regarding a school’s future educational provision and consideration of the educational interests of students including access to curriculum offerings is key to this decision making,” the spokesperson said.
Read More: Penrose, Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands