The 2013 State Budget makes provision for new schools and upgrades within the Willoughby City area and nearby communities.

In West Ward, our two Public Primary Schools will all receive new classrooms.

Mowbray Public School on the border between Willoughby and Lane Cove Councils will be re-built to accommodate around 800 students (current enrolments are around 200 students. The proposal is to basically rebuild the school so that it meets the needs of students coming from the large number of high-rise developments proceeding in the Lane Cove Council area. The planning for the rebuilding project will take around one year. New buildings will most likely be 3 storeys (to minimise the building footprint and provide for the maximum amount of open space). A key aspect of planning for the site acknowledged by the Department of Education and Communities (DEC) is to preserve the open space on the site (including the oval and significant vegetation). The DEC are in the process of commissioning a traffic study that will assist in locating addition drop-off/pick-up zones, crossings and other associated safety matters.

Chatswood Public School has been bursting at the seams for a number of years. It is required to take in an ever increasing number of students emanating from the high-rise buildings within the Chatswood CBD. The site is severely constrained. There is little open space and the main building is heritage listed. The first stage in attempting to resolve the space issue is that a number of additional demountables will be installed on the Chatswood High site.  It is proposed that these demountables will be used by year 5 & 6 primary students.

Councils are considering bussing children to after-school care. Willoughby is one of two Councils (the other being Leichhardt) who might set up centralised after-school care centres. Two West Wards three primary schools (Our Lady of Dolours and Chatswood Public School)  currently walk their students to the Trumper Pavilion on Chatswood Oval. Mowbray Public School has a purpose-built Out of School Hours (OOSH) care facility, run by a private operator, within the school grounds.

In Willoughby it is postulated that school-based services have less than 10% of the capacity needed. Council is looking to refurbish Council facilities to enable them to become multipurpose facilities capable for catering for out of school hours services. However, the facilities are not near the schools, so transport would be required.