School Cuts Affect Sibling Enrolments - and raises stereotypical issues for parents

For many years within the Australian schooling system, siblings of enrolled students receive preferential treatment in terms of enrolment. However, Kirsty Needham of the Sydney Morning Herald (Sept 22 2013) reveals in her article 'School out of bounds for siblings' that due to the rising numbers of students in Sydneys' inner city schools have forced the prevention of siblings being enrolled. Needham (2013) using statistics to substantiate these claims: within five years an estimate of 900 primary school children somehow must squeeze into only 16 spaces in various schools. Classrooms are an issue as well forecasting that "another 39 classrooms are needed." Parents have therefore been forced to enrol their children at seperate schools, kilometres apart.

This raises an important issue however. Greens Member of Parliament Jamie Parker, the member for Balmain, is quoted in Needham's (2013) article to have claimed that this policy of seperating siblings is "cruel" and "unfriendly to families." Parker claims that "it is cruel to tell kids that their brother or sister can't attend the same school because the government has failed to plan for growth." Not only is this a hardship faced for families within Sydney, according to Mr Parker it raises gender and liberation issues as well where he claims that this 'no-sibling' policy "assumes there is a parent at home who can do more than one schol drop off. This is 1950's thinking." This heavily limits both single parents, of either sex, into a strict sphere of thought that implies that single parent families don't work, and are able to drop siblings off at seperate schools kilometres apart. 

This implies issues for a growth of identity for children as well. According to McAdoo and Sheets (1993;1999) "Children begin to develop a sense of identity as individuals and as members of groups from their earliest interactions with others." This could either be advantageous or disaterous for the child being enrolled at a different school than their siblings. It may serve as a grounding point for a child to have a sibling at school with them.

Annandale North Public School has no room for growth, where enrolments went from 353 in 2008 to 440 this year (Needham 2013). This growth however is concerning. Mr Parker asserts that "the state government must act urgently to address boundary issues and create a more family-friendly sibling policy." This certainly raises interesting questions of identity and the culture within the schooling systems.

References:


McAdoo & Sheets 1993;1999. In The Education Alliance, 2002. The Diversity Kit. Brown University. Accessed online at
http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/diversity_kit/

 Needham, Kirsty. Sept 22, 2013. 'School out of bounds for siblings.' The Sydney Morning Herald.