A $72.6 million Sikh religious school is being planned for a quiet suburb on Sydney’s northwestern outskirts, with the Labor federal government set to contribute millions in taxpayer funding.
Sikh Grammar School Australia, a registered charity, has lodged a development application with the NSW Government to build a two-storey primary school, early learning centre and long daycare facility on a 2 hectare site on Speets Road in Oakville, which has a population of just 2,000 people.
According to planning documents, the facility will be Australia’s first independent Sikh grammar school, and “will offer the NSW curriculum alongside instruction in core Sikh values such as honesty, compassion, service and spirituality” for about 550 primary school students.
The school will also have a library, assembly area, and administration, recreational and parking areas, and will aim to “address the unmet demand for a school based around the Sikh faith”, planning documents state.
The organisation purchased the block in September last year for $3.5 million after selling its previously owned site in Rouse Hill. The organisation had planned to open an even larger school there, but despite obtaining approval the project fell through in 2022 due to lack of funding.
Ahead of the May federal election Education Minister Jason Clare committed $5.3 million in federal funding for Sikh Grammar School Australia to build a new early education and care service, on the condition it is “operated by a not-for-profit entity as a Child Care Subsidy approved long daycare service”.
Mr Clare cited the tripling in size of the Sikh community since 2011 for the decision, and said “a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will work with Sikh Grammar School Australia to help deliver their vision”.
“This is all about expanding access to early education and care so more young Australians get the benefit of early education,” he said.
Oakville is also set to be home to Australia’s first-ever Hindu school, which received an $8.5 million funding pledge from Mr Clare during the same month.
The proposed Hindu school, which is about 1km from the Sikh site, will be home to about 1,000 students.
Header image: A concept plan of the school (NSW Government).
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