Our students

• 806,238 students in our classrooms (including students in department-operated preschools and schools for specific purposes)
• 64,872 students starting kindergarten
• 483,750 students entering primary school and preschool
• 53,987 students starting Year 7
• 322,487 students entering high school

*Enrolments as at 12 December 2022.

Where can our primary and secondary students be found?

• 0.5% of our students are in remote areas
• 24% of our students are in regional areas
• 75.5% of our students are in metropolitan areas
  
  

• Nearly a quarter of children under 5 years live in regional or remote NSW

Our students also have varied cultural backgrounds

• 9% of our students are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• 38% have a language background other than English

Our schools

• 2,215 public schools in NSW

School staff

• 96,158 teachers and staff dedicated to students in 2023

Scholarships

• 933 Early Childhood Teaching scholarships awarded under the 2022/23 Early Childhood Education Scholarships program
• 76 Early Childhood Inclusive Education Scholarships
• 142 Teacher Education Scholarships offered
• 120 teach.Rural scholarships offered
• 76 Inclusive Practice in Education scholarships offered

Supporting students with specific learning needs

• 1,974 specialist learning and support teacher positions
  
• More than 4,050 specialist support classes** (mainstream and schools for specific purposes (SSP))
• $300m allocated for integration funding support for 15,400 students in 2022
• 86% of students with specific learning needs learning in mainstream classes*
  
• 11% of students with specific learning needs learning in support classes*
• 3% of students identifying as living with a disability learning in schools for specific purposes (SSPs)*
• 23% students identifying as living with a disability*

*Approximate figures
**As at 21 December 2022

Increasing support for student health and wellbeing

Ongoing partnerships with leading mental health organisations to support schools to deliver best practice in prevention and early intervention mental health support for students.

• Over 1,240 full time equivalent school counselling service positions
• Over 440 student support officers
• Over 90 nurses supporting over 330 schools
• 17 dedicated face-to-face and telepsychology counselling service team members providing access to school counselling support in rural and remote NSW schools
• $88.4m for 100 additional full time equivalent school counselling positions, 350 additional student support offices in every high school by June 2023 and mental health partnerships

Technology

• $33.8m investment in devices and digital techology for rural and remote schools
• $27.m computer equipment rollout
• 2,221 schools with faster internet upgrades since Term 1, 2022
• 982 schools with new or upgraded learning displays
• 2,922 STEM.T4L technology kits of robotics, 3D printing, filming, VR and AR
• 850,419 students with access to Adobe, Microsoft & Google software with free, filtered internet and unlimited secure cloud storage
• 19,882 new student desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets and chromebooks
• 1,198 schools with upgraded network connectivity
• 979 schools receiving professional learning through the Digital Classroom Officer program*
• 1,003 Rural Access Gap schools benefiting from improvements in digital tools

*Received support in 2021-22

Early childhood education

• More than 5,920 early childhood education services
• 151,000 children attending out of school care (ages 5-12)*
• 23,000 children attending Department of Education, community or mobile preschool (ages 3-5)*
• 61,000 children attending day care or centre-based day care (ages 0-5)*
• 24% year-before-school population attending Department of Education, community or mobile preschool*
  
• 62% year-before-school population attending long day care or centre based day care*

*Approximate figures

Skills

• 2,574 School Based Apprentices and Trainees (SBATs) approved in 2022
• 22,261 Apprenticeships approved in 2022 (excluding SBATs)
• 38,668 Traineeships approved in 2022 (excluding SBATs)
  
• 206,270 Smart and Skilled commencements in 2022 (full and part qualifications)

School Infrastructure NSW

New and upgraded schools

• 14 new and upgraded schools supporting almost 10,000 students
• 345 new classrooms
• 10 new halls
• 11 new libraries
• 9 new covered outdoor learning areas