35.7% ▲ +25.2%
Lower than 75% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 28.5%
- 2016: 30.9%
- 2021: 35.7%
Share of people whose highest year of school is Year 12 or equivalent.
Forster · Suburb / Locality
Education & Qualifications in Forster
How far people went at school, the qualifications they hold and what they studied.
Far fewer people in Forster have finished high school than in most similar areas. Only 35.7% of residents completed Year 12, which is far below the New South Wales figure of 58.9%. This gap in basic schooling is mirrored in higher education, where the rate of university degrees is also much lower than the state and national averages.
Schooling
Highest year of school completed.
Only 35.7% of people here finished Year 12, which is far below the national figure of 58.8%. Roughly a third of residents topped out at Year 10, while 16.3% finished Year 9 or below.
Highest year of school
View on map →Forster splits fairly evenly between Year 12 (39%) and Year 10 (37%), with Year 9 or below at 18%.
Qualifications
Post-school qualifications and degrees.
University degrees are less common here than in most of the country, with just 13.3% of adults holding a bachelor degree or higher. This is far below the New South Wales figure of 27.8%, and Certificates III or IV are the most common qualification at 35.2%.
13.3% ▲ +48.0%
Lower than 55% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 9.0%
- 2016: 10.8%
- 2021: 13.3%
Share of people aged 15+ whose highest qualification is a bachelor degree or above (incl. graduate and postgraduate).
Highest qualification level
View on map →In Forster, the largest group is Certificate III / IV at 47%, followed by Bachelor degree (22%) and Advanced diploma / diploma (19%).
Field of study
What people studied.
Among those with qualifications, the most common fields of study are management and commerce at 17.3%, followed by engineering at 12.7% and health at 11.6%.
Schools
Schools in the area and how many children they serve (ACARA).
Forster has 6 schools within 3km, which is more than about 77% of similar areas. These schools are generally larger than most, though there are far fewer schools per 1,000 children than in other areas.
1.62
Lower than 79% of suburb / locality areas.
Schools per 1,000 children aged under 15.
6
Higher than 74% of suburb / locality areas.
Schools serving the area — within 3 km of small areas, or inside larger ones. A measure of access (catchments overlap, so don't add it across areas).
430
Higher than 63% of suburb / locality areas.
Average enrolment per school in the area.
955
Lower than 71% of suburb / locality areas.
Enrolment-weighted average ICSEA — an index of socio-educational advantage, centred near 1000 (context, not a quality ranking).
Schools serving Forster
6 schools — 2,577 students, average ICSEA 955.
By sector: Government 5 · Catholic 1
By type: Secondary 3 · Primary 3
| Great Lakes College Forster Campus, Forster | Government | Secondary | 2.1 km | 478 | 936 |
| Forster Public School, Forster | Government | Primary | 5.8 km | 573 | 934 |
| Holy Name Primary School, Forster | Catholic | Primary | 5.9 km | 345 | 1,014 |
| Tuncurry Public School, Tuncurry | Government | Primary | 7.8 km | 366 | 930 |
| Great Lakes College Tuncurry Campus, Tuncurry | Government | Secondary | 8.7 km | 466 | 949 |
| Great Lakes College Senior Campus, Tuncurry | Government | Secondary | 8.8 km | 349 | 988 |
Sources
More for Forster
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Education & Qualifications in Forster [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/sal/SAL11553/forster/topic/education