We’re investing in school facilities and communities so we can make every school a great school. Find an overview or our 20-year plan for infrastructure on this page.

Read the full 20-Year Infrastructure Plan for South Australian Public Education and Care: Every School a Great School (PDF 7 MB) .

The importance of education infrastructure

Public schools and preschools are the heart of South Australian communities. They deserve high-quality educational facilities to support students to learn and thrive.

We've heard from students, parents, carers, staff and community members about what they desire in their schools. Parent and carers have told us they want their children to learn in environments that are flexible, inclusive and engaging, and that give them confidence their children will have access to the facilities and learning they need to be their best.

Selecting a school or preschool is an important decision. How a school looks from the outside is one of the most immediate factors parents and carers consider when deciding on schooling options for their child.

Quality infrastructure plays an important role in shaping parents’ confidence in their child’s education.

These highly visible aspects of a school or preschool can lead to higher enrolments and contribute to other determinants of a school’s success, including:

• workforce attraction
• effective teaching
• student wellbeing and sense of belonging
• parent engagement.

The 20-Year Infrastructure Plan for South Australian Public Education and Care: Every School a Great School (PDF 7 MB) integrates with wider planning for the future of the state, including Plan SA’s Plan for Greater Adelaide and Infrastructure SA’s 20-Year State Infrastructure Strategy.

Our approach

A proactive approach to education infrastructure enables a better understanding of which schools are in most need and how best to address those needs.

The 20-year infrastructure plan has 3 key focus areas to ensure we can:

• meet enrolment demand through the development of new schools
• provide targeted uplift at schools at the right time for the right reasons
• maintain existing assets to maximise their use and prioritise those most important to school communities.

Focus area 1: meeting demand – new schools

We’re investing in new schools to meet forecast population growth and enrolment demand in some of the state’s fastest growing regions.

New Mount Barker preschool and primary school

A new co-located preschool and primary school is being built to support young families living in and moving to the Mount Barker area.

It will offer:

• 100 preschool enrolment places
• 300 primary school enrolment places.

The co-located preschool and primary school is planned to open in 2028.

New northern suburbs secondary school

A new public secondary school is being built to meet growing enrolment demand in the northern suburbs.

It will provide 1300 places for students from years 7 to 12.

The school is planned to open in 2028.

Focus area 2: targeted school uplift

We’re using a data-driven approach to provide targeted support in the right schools, at the right time, for the right reasons.

We’re investing in school communities as well as school facilities. This may include the development of planning studies, fixing any outstanding maintenance issues, and leveraging opportunities to upgrade existing assets that are most important to schools and local communities.

In addition to infrastructure upgrades, these schools will benefit from extra support to build on their identity and standing in the community. This may include updated marketing and specialist education streams that appeal to local families.

The first steps in the plan target the following schools for uplift:

• Mount Gambier High School
• Le Fevre Secondary School
• Oakbank School.

Focus area 3: maintaining our assets

We've reviewed asset condition across the system to help us determine what needs to be fixed and where we need to prioritise uplifting our assets and facilities.

We're uplifting the assets and facilities we know mean the most to our families, staff and students.

As a first step, upgrades and building replacements have been announced for:

• Surrey Downs Primary School
• Bellevue Heights Primary School
• Mount Barker High School.

Following these initial projects, we'll invest over time to clear the maintenance backlog at schools and preschools across the public education system.