Primary and secondary schools Australia 2023 by state
In 2023, there were nearly 2.1 thousand primary schools and just over 500 secondary schools in New South Wales. That same year, there were approximately 9.6 thousand total schools (primary, secondary, combined, and special schools) in Australia.
The Australian schooling system
Education in Australia can be broadly categorized into primary, secondary, and tertiary education. While there are slight differences between the states and territories, primary school typically runs for seven or eight years from Preparatory or ‘Prep’ to Year 6 or 7, while secondary school goes for three to four years from Years 7 to 10, or Years 8 to 10, depending on the location. Finally, two additional but non-compulsory senior secondary school years are offered as Years 11 and 12. Most students in Australia complete 13 years of primary and secondary school education before pursuing further goals, which include attending university or a vocational training institute, entering the workforce, or taking a ‘gap year’.
Bilingual schools in Australia
As a multicultural nation, students in Australia come from a wide range of language backgrounds. While English is the primary language of instruction in most schools in Australia, several schools offer bilingual education. In these schools, students are taught some lessons in another language, such as French. Apart from schools offering bilingual education, many schools in Australia provide foreign language classes. Other popular languages taught in Australian schools include Italian, Indonesian, Mandarin, Japanese, German, and Spanish.
