A small primary school in Canberra's south has been saved from closure as the Catholic Education office foreshadows a new fee structure.
St Bede's Primary School community was initially told it could close its doors by the end of the year because of low enrolments and changes to government funding.
After a strong campaign from parents and the school board, Catholic Education director for Canberra and Goulburn Ross Fox told parents and carers that the Red Hill school would stay open.
"We were so encouraged by the commitment from parents and support for the school. We're confident enrolments can grow," Mr Fox said.
He said the ideal number of students at St Bede's would be 175, made up of seven classes with 25 students each. Catholic Education is also working on a business case to build an early learning centre on site.
"We're committed to high-quality learning and teaching through ELCs, with trained teachers in their classrooms," Mr Fox said.
Spokeswoman for St Bede's parents Monica Kyburz said parents were thrilled with the news that the school would remain open.
She said enrolments for next year were healthy, especially among families who didn't live near Red Hill.
"We're getting more and more out of area enrolments," Ms Kyburz said.
"It's quite an attractive option for parents who don't live near the school but work in parliamentary triangle or Barton and Civic."
The Catholic Education Commission is expected to sign off on a new fee schedule for all schools in the Archdiocese.
Meanwhile, Catholic school administrators will be speaking with all principals about the future of the system as it adjusts to the new funding formula based on the income of parents.
"We're thinking hard of what the options are to meet the financial sustainability of the system but keep fees affordable," Mr Fox said.
It has been suggested that a tiered system which takes into account the income of parents could be introduced.
Mr Fox said Catholic Education was thinking through all the options but the ACT was different from all other states and territories.
"There's no model of fees that we can lift from any other jurisdiction that will meet needs of Canberra families."
