Catholic Schools NSW
Media Release
20 February 2026
Catholic Schools in NSW have reached their highest ever market share in recorded history, reflecting growing demand for a Catholic education.
The release of the ACARA My School Dataset, which was collected in August 2025, revealed the combined enrolment share of Catholic Systemic schools (18.56%) and Catholic Independent schools (3.25%) was 21.82%.
“The growth of Catholic school enrolments reflect the trust families place in our schools,” said Dallas McInerney, CEO of Catholic Schools NSW. “Catholic schools have high expectations for student learning, place a strong emphasis on student behaviour and civics, and foster well managed classrooms where students are heard.
The NSW public school sector continued a steady decrease in enrolments with a 0.9% decline in 2025, with the sector now having lost 3.7% of its enrolment share over the past 5 years.
Catholic education’s growth has been accompanied by a deepening commitment to access and equity. The proportion of students from the lowest socio-educational quartile attending Catholic systemic schools has steadily increased over the 5 years to 2025, from 14.8 per cent to 15.7 per cent — underscoring Catholic schools’ mission to support families from all backgrounds and to uphold the right of every child to a high-quality education.
“This is the highest ever market share recorded by Catholic education, and we work every day to earn the trust and confidence of our families. We are seeing this growth right across NSW, the Central West, metropolitan Sydney, the regions and on the Coast, demand is strong.”
“Our promise to parents is to provide an education that is affordable, but also an education that supports deep knowledge and a values framework informed by the Gospels, that sets students up for life” said Dallas McInerney, CEO of Catholic Schools NSW.
