NSW government to build new co-ed selective boarding super-school

The NSW government will build the state's first public boarding school inside a university campus.

The decision comes as it sells off a hundred hectares of land that belonged to one of the state's first selective schools, NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli announced on Wednesday.

The historic Hurlstone Agricultural High School will be moved in its entirety 55 kilometres north to Richmond, where co-ed teenage boarders and university college students will mix at the Western Sydney University campus.

The school, whose alumni includes former Labor leader Mark Latham and Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane, is one of the state's only public co-educational boarding schools and will continue in that capacity when it is relocated to the 1400 hectare site from 2020.

It will accommodate 1500 selective students and specialise in science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) and agriculture.

"Here they will have the opportunity to learn about food production, gene technology and conservation science, not how to milk cows," Mr Piccoli said at the site of the new campus.

The government's investment will give students access to state-of-the-art greenhouses, genomics laboratories and biochemistry growth chambers as it seeks to turnaround the state's STEM crisis.

NSW Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said that agricultural science was a crucial area for the state's future prosperity.

"I say to school students forget about going into medicine and sitting in some bulk-bill clinic, the future is in primary industries, finding out how we can feed the world with the resources that we have."

Figures from the NSW Board of Studies show that maths and science capable high school graduates have been in continuous decline, where all indicators predict the majority of future jobs growth will occur.

Hurlstone was one of four schools announced by Mr Piccoli on Wednesday as the government commits a further $130 million to building much-needed education infrastructure in Sydney's south-west.

The sale of the 140-hectare Hurlstone site is expected to net the government $170 million, as it draws in dollars from property developers along the south-western corridor, which is expected to see 664,000 homes built over the next two decades.

The current building of Hurlstone Agricultural High, which has been there since 1926, will become a new Glenfield high school with up to 11,000 new dwellings built on the former agricultural land surrounding it.

The capacity of the re-developed building will be expanded for a further 360 selective school spaces, while land will also be reserved for a new primary school on the site.

Greens MP John Kaye said that he had "grave concerns" about the sale of the Hurlstone site.

"This came from nowhere, it is land that was hotly contested," he said.

"The land is right on the edge of Glenfield railway station, it is prime development land. I'm concerned about increased population and the loss of agricultural functions at Hurlstone that will isolate those kids."

He said that the community had not been consulted about the decision.

"Young people in south-western Sydney will have lost the opportunity to study agricultural subjects."

New schools at Oran Park and Gledswood Hills will increase capacity in the south-western Sydney area by 180 classrooms, as the city's classroom shortage continues unabated.

Lidcombe Primary School is the latest to join the state's schools now at capacity, along with Ultimo Primary, Macquarie Fields High and Blackwattle Bay.

Opposition education spokeswoman Linda Burney called on NSW Property Minister Dominic Perrottet to give the site of a vacant Roads and Maritime Services building next door to Lidcombe Primary to the local school.

"Shuffling the cards in the deck won't solve these problems," she said. "We need new schools not just relocated ones."

Mr Perrottet would not comment say if there were any plans to give the RMS site to the Department of Education.

"When we look at any property, we look at all aspects," he said. "All decisions that are made are made in the best interest of this state." 

What is STEM? 

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) have been identified as the key areas by educators across Australia that will drive future jobs growth.

The skills taught in these foundation subjects, such as coding, will allow future generations to remain digitally adaptive and increase Australia's international competitiveness.

According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Australia stands to gain a $57.4 billion increase in GDP by shifting 1 per cent of the workforce into STEM-focused roles.

"As it stands in Australia the gap between the digital literacy of our young people and that of our competitor nations is increasing. If we want increased productivity and participation, we need urgently to embark on a 10-year plan to close that gap," said Business Council of Australia president Catherine Livingstone.

In 2014 as part of the Australian Curriculum Review, the federal government announced a $12 million investment for initiatives aimed at increasing the focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects in primary and secondary schools.