Baptisms, moving and enrolments at birth: The tricks parents use to get their child’s dream school

Pity the school registrars across Sydney. They have heard it all, from the non-stop calls by anxious parents eager to know their child’s position on the waiting list, to the newly baptised who have seemingly had a Damascene conversion. And then there is the occasional parent offering a sizeable donation.

The quest to secure a spot in a sought-after Sydney school has become an extreme sport for parents, and many are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure they are successful.

“Looking for any churches/priests that would help us baptise our two kids,” says one post on the Eastern Suburbs Mums Facebook page. “I am baptised but not practising (my partner is not baptised). We would like our children to go to Catholic schools.”

Another Facebook user on the popular Sydney Schools Discussion Group asked whether baptism was worth it.

“I’m tempted to get my kids baptised Catholic so we have more schooling options in high school (7+ years away but figure the head dunk sooner rather than later),” the parent wrote. “However, I’ve just read the admissions criteria for Catholic schools and now wondering if we should just wing it as non faith as it’s not guaranteed anyway.”

While the most recent census revealed that fewer Australians reported their religion as Christian and more were selecting “no religion”, enrolments in Catholic schools are steadily on the rise.

The latest figures from the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority show 3000 more students enrolled in NSW Catholic schools last year than in 2024.

At the same time, more students attended a private school last year than at any other time in the state’s history, after public education enrolments dropped by almost 7000 pupils, the seventh year of declining enrolment share.

A Sydney Catholic high school principal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there was a widely held view that some families baptise their children purely to boost their enrolment chances.

“We certainly notice that often on the initial application the parents list ‘no religion’ and then when we ask for documentations, the child has been baptised,” the principal said.

The Catholic Church does not shy away from this claim. Danielle Cronin, the executive director of Sydney Catholic Schools, said baptism was not a requirement for all students, and an increasing number of families were drawn to Catholic education.

“Some families have baptised their children as infants as part of their long-standing Catholic faith and naturally seek a Catholic education,” Cronin said. “Others may choose baptism before enrolment because they are attracted to what Catholic schools offer and wish to participate more fully in that tradition.”

However, anxiety around securing a school place is not only confined to low-fee Catholic schools.

Jenny Allum, the former long-serving principal of SCEGGS Darlinghurst, said parents were prepared to put their child’s name down at several independent schools at birth – and pay multiple application fees – to ensure they had options in years to come. Schools change, principals come and go.

However, there were always some parents prepared to go further.

“There are some people who offer donations or promise financial support. There is a mentality that money speaks or buys you entry. But that is not the case in education,” Allum said.

Iris Nastasi, principal of the co-ed Catholic independent school Rosebank College, said the Five Dock mid-fee school is in such demand that it has closed enrolments for year 7 intake until 2032. Parents are persistent when it comes to reminding the school of their eagerness for a place, she said.

“Our registrar deals with lots of calls and gets to know families very well,” Nastasi said.

But weekly calls to the school registrar is not the only tactic on which parents rely. “We know that there are parents who move their children to a Catholic primary school hoping that will help with their enrolment chances,” Nastasi said.

In many public primary schools across Sydney, student numbers plummet in year 5 as parents shift their offspring to the Catholic sector.

Once the traditional end-of-year clap-out was only for year 6 students. Now it includes students in year 3 as they leave for the Catholic or independent systems.

One eastern suburbs principal, not permitted to speak publicly under education department rules, said the relentless poaching of the Catholic sector was harming public schools. The principal blames some of the drop in public school enrolments on targeted marketing from Catholic schools.

But it has not always been so. In 2008, the state government was forced to amend the Education Act to give public school principals the power to insist that families provide 100 points of identification for enrolment. So popular were many public schools that there were cases of parents providing “ghost addresses” or even fraudulent statutory declarations to get around strict catchment rules.

“The vast majority of parents and carers are scrupulously honest when they apply to enrol their child at school,” then-Labor minister Tony Kelly told NSW parliament in April that year. “Unfortunately, a small number of people provide false and deceptive information.”

More recently, Facebook groups for the inner west, eastern suburbs and north shore are flooded with questions from parents who are desperate to snare a spot at one of Sydney’s top schools.

“Signed up to school of choice whilst still in hospital after giving birth,” one member posted. Another added: “Yep, mine were down at our two chosen schools within four to five hours of birth.”

In response to a callout from the Herald, a reader said their friend bought the cheapest 40-square-metre investment property possible in the catchment area of a popular public school that wouldn’t take out-of-area kids.

Another response was: “I know an executive that wasn’t religious but went to church for three years straight each Sunday to get a reference from a renowned Catholic priest. They got into the school they wanted [Riverview], then never went back to church.”

As public education enrolments drop, the NSW Department of Education this year took steps to win back students by loosening its rules for out-of-area enrolments.

But despite the change, families are still prepared to relocate to guarantee their child will secure a spot at their preferred public school. Eleanor, who asked for her surname not to be used, downsized from her home in Maroubra and relocated to Bondi to enrol her daughter at Rose Bay Secondary College.

Her rent jumped from $840 a week to $1100, and her two children now share a bedroom. But the small business owner says the sacrifice was worth it for the right school. It was Rose Bay’s strong arts program, including film club and music ensembles, which was the drawcard for her family.

“We are struggling,” Eleanor said. “But it was worth it for the kids.”

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