Our students

Total students

• 820,000 students in our classrooms (including students in department-operated preschools and schools for specific purposes)
• 68,000 students starting Kindergarten
• 491,000 students in primary school
• 55,000 students starting Year 7
• 320,000 students in high school

Where can our students be found across NSW?

• 75% of our students are in metropolitan areas
• 24.5% of our students are in regional areas
• 0.5% of our students are in remote areas

Our students also have varied cultural backgrounds

• 8.5% of our students are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
• 37.5% have a language background other than English

Our schools

• 2,216 public schools in NSW
• 7 new and upgraded schools for Day 1 Term 1 2022

Our staff

• 96,099 teachers and staff dedicated to students in 2022

Scholarships

• 62 teach.Rural scholarships offered
  
• 154 Inclusive Practice in Education scholarships offered

Wellbeing

• $88.4 million for counsellors, student support offices and mental health resources in every high school by end 2022
• Full time equivalent school counselling positions increase to 1,240
• 390 student support officers by June 2022
• 106 wellbeing nurses, supporting up to 500 schools
• 48 rural and remote NSW schools with access to the department's dedicated face-to-face and telepsychology counselling service
• Ongoing partnerships with leading mental health organisations to support schools to deliver best practice in prevention and early intervention mental health support for students

Supporting students with specific learning needs

• 3,860 specialist support classes (mainstream and schools for specific purposes (SSP))
• 1,890 specialist learning and support teacher positions
• $280 million allocated for Integration Funding support for 14,370 students in 2021
• 85% of students with specific learning needs learning in mainstream classes
• 12% of students with specific learning needs learning in support classes
• 3% of students identifying as living with a disability learning in SSPs
• 1 in 5 students identifying as living with a disability

Technology

• 6.7x faster internet delivered for students since Term 1 2021
• 94 schools with upgraded learning spaces
• 48,728 new student desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets & chromebooks
• 685 STEM.T4L technology kits of robotics, coding, 3D printing, filming and VR

Rural Access Gap program

Creating equal access to digital technologies in 2022:

• 392 schools with upgraded network connectivity
• 471 schools receiving professional learning through the Digital Classroom Officer program
• 1,003 Rural Access Gap schools benefiting from improvements to digital tools

Record funding delivered to schools in 2022

• $19..0 billion total funding for NSW public schools in 2021-2022
• $1.34 billion needs-based funding, $40 million above 2021

Skills

• 25,103 apprentices approved in 2021 (excluding SBATs)
• 2,582 School Based Apprentices and Trainees (SBATs) in 2021
• 34,191 traineeships approved in 2021 (excluding SBATs)
• 238,109 Smart and Skilled commencements in 2021

School Infrastructure NSW programs

• $240 million for Regional and Metro Renewal Programs benefiting more than 1,300 schools
• $15 billion portfolio of school infrastructure projects
• 700 schools earmarked for new roofs, repairs and upgrades as part of the $60 million Roof Replacement Program to be completed in 2022
• $30 million investment in Aboriginal-owned businesses and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment
• $498 million investment in regional and remote communities
  
• 1,000 schools lit up with LEDs under the LED Lighting Upgrade Program