It’s Brisbane’s largest school, and its enrolments grew by more than any other at the start of the year, but parents are still flocking to Mansfield State High.
Carolyn Weatherby, a long-time Mansfield local, said her family decided to stay in the catchment area so her children, aged 10 and 13, could attend the school.
“It’s large enough that my kids can find their tribe,” she said.
“I like that the teachers are happy and that they give my kids a good education, and I think the size means there are a lot of opportunities as well.”
In 2025, three Mansfield State High year 12 graduates achieved an ATAR of 99.95, making it the strongest-performing standard state school.
The school is also a selling point for the south-eastern suburbs within its catchment area, which covers parts of Mansfield, Wishart, Mackenzie, and Burbank.
Weatherby said moves to reduce the catchment a few years ago caused “a huge fuss because people buy when their children are small … with the intention of going to Mansfield”.
February’s enrolment numbers, obtained exclusively by this masthead, show the school grew by 170 students since 2025, taking the total to 3978.
This means it is now 726 students over its maximum capacity.
For comparison, two-thirds of all Brisbane schools have a total headcount lower than 726.
The school has also enrolled several additional students each week this term, taking the actual end-of-term number to just under 4000.
Weatherby said the size of the school did have its drawbacks, including selection for sporting teams and performances such as musicals.
Mansfield P&C president Kate Williams said competition was also fierce for special overseas or interstate trips, and the cohort size could cause planning headaches.
“We go to the convention centre for formals, and the Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre for graduation, but you don’t have as many options as some other schools with smaller cohorts might have,” she said.
“It’s just the sheer economies of scale.”
Within Brisbane, Mansfield State High is beyond its stated capacity by the second-highest margin.
On that metric, it is beaten only by Indooroopilly State High School, which exceeded its enrolment capacity by 36 per cent this year and conducts some classes in demountable classrooms on its playing fields.
Mansfield has three excellence programs offering 1003 places, but beyond those, Williams said there were “absolutely no out-of-catchment admissions any longer”.
Based on 2025 enrolments, about 90 per cent of students attending the school are from within the catchment.
Williams said that during her time as a parent and P&C member, she had seen several new buildings added to the campus, but said the school community was not aware of any future expansion plans.
“Nobody’s without a desk and a chair, and the school is kind of ahead of that [growth],” she said.
But if the school continues to grow, she said there would need to be either an increasing in building heights or perhaps the construction of another school entirely.
The Education Department declined to respond to questions about plans for any new permanent or demountable buildings to accommodate the school’s growing population.
However, Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the government was delivering 15 new schools in the state’s fast-growing areas.
“We’re building the infrastructure needed for future generations, with a $1.7 billion infrastructure pipeline delivering specialist learning centres, robotics labs, sports halls, state-of-the-art STEM classrooms, and more,” he said.
Education Department modelling suggested the number of high-school-aged students living in Mansfield’s catchment would remain fairly stable over the next five years, increasing by about 175 students by 2031.
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