When Lucas Primary School opened in 2020, it had 70 students. Now it has 70 pupils in its prep classes alone and 355 enrolments on its books - 100 more than last year.
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Lucas Primary and neighbouring Siena Catholic Primary School, which this year has its first grade six students who have been at the school since it opened in 2017, are examples of the rapid growth in parts of Ballarat.
But this year it is Ballarat Clarendon College who welcomes the largest intake of preps across the region, with 92 little learners taking their first steps in formal education through the college's junior school gates.
In previous years it has been Delacombe or Buninyong Primary Schools with the biggest number of preps but strong year-on-year growth at Clarendon, where parents pay $9160 for prep, has seen numbers increase from 77 last year.
Ballarat Clarendon College head of junior school Jeannie Jamieson said there were a number of different factors driving the growth.
"Our numbers are increasing across the board and it means that some of our later year levels are rapidly filling up so there are waiting lists," she said.
"It means parents need to bring their children in earlier. Where traditionally many kids may start at year seven, then year five, which is getting full, and now we are at capacity for year four so they are bringing kids in earlier and earlier."
Ms Jamieson said parents also realised that the longer children attended the school, the better the outcome.
"We often have kids come in year nine and 10 and by the time they come in often the gap ... is quite wide between our kids who have been with us a long time and they have quite a lot of catch up to do."
Ms Jamieson said many parents are also looking for phonics instruction and explicit, research-based teaching practices particularly in early years and that is what the school offers.
"We only follow evidence-based instruction, which is part of the bigger conversation going on within Victoria at the moment about phonics instruction and the problem with the balanced literacy approach. More and more people are aware that we need to be instructing in the way evidence tells us is best, and we need to do that right at the beginning."
Ballarat Clarendon College's 92 preps are a diverse group which Ms Jamieson says is reflective of Ballarat's community.
"We are really lucky we have such diversity in our community," she said. "In junior school we teach humanities which focus on history, geography and and overview of different beliefs that different groups have so we are inclusive and share the benefit of having such a diverse community."
Lucas Primary School principal Sue Sawyer said despite the rapid growth of the school from 70 to 355 in just a few years, the culture and values established from day one continue.
"We developed a really strong culture; a supportive, welcoming, inclusive community and as new staff and families come on board we build on the practices we had when we started out as a small school," she said.
The bulk of enrolments are in the lower levels of the school, with 11 of the school's 17 classes in grade prep, one and two so the school will continue to grow as the children get older.
"Our school is built for 475 students but that would include getting additional portable, relocatable buildings," Ms Sawyer said.
IN OTHER NEWS
"When we opened we probably had a little bit of a slow start because of COVID and buildings not happening quite as much but since things got back on track we are booming. We have 100 more students than the end of last year," she said.
Siena Catholic Primary School principal Chris Cavanagh said building continued at the school which opened with 72 pupils in 2017.
After opening with one building, there are now 260 to 270 children enrolled and four main buildings with the final land currently being transformed in to an oval, basketball court, formal lawns and paths.
This year they have welcomed 47 new prep students, a fairly steady number with plans for the school to grow by about 20 students a year until it reaches a population of about 350.
The Courier's annual Big Steps, Little Feet feature will be published on March 1.
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