East Brisbane, QLD Family Guide

State schools around East Brisbane: nearly all of them are holding a catchment line

A Queensland state school that is nearing its enrolment capacity brings in an enrolment management plan, and from then on it must put students who live inside its catchment first (Department of Education). Around East Brisbane that is the usual case, not the exception. Of the state schools a family here is likely to weigh, only one is missing from the Department's list of schools with a plan.

The plans themselves: Norman Park, Buranda and Coorparoo State School each name in-catchment students as their prime obligation, in the same words.

What a plan means at the local primary

East Brisbane State School's own plan shows how it works. Its first obligation is to children whose principal place of residence is inside its catchment, the principal must restrict out-of-catchment enrolments so local children can still get in, and Prep places are capped unless more in-catchment children enrol than the cap allows (East Brisbane State School plan). For a family about to rent or buy, the catchment line matters more than how close the gate is.

Two secondary schools, two different front doors

• Brisbane South State Secondary College, in Dutton Park, runs a plan. Out-of-catchment applicants join a waiting list assessed in order of receipt, and its Biomedical Science Academy and AFL Academy have a defined number of places (its plan).
• Coorparoo Secondary College is not on the plan list. Its enrolment page asks families to phone the office for an appointment and bring a birth certificate and the latest report card (Coorparoo Secondary College).

Not being on the list is not a promise of a place, and it does not tell you which school is your catchment school. EdMap does: search a home address and it shows every state school catchment serving it, for the primary, junior secondary and senior secondary years (EdMap).

Within 2 km, after the bell

Live from the AroundSchools directory — 6 of 12 kids' activity providers we list within 2 km of East Brisbane · correct as at 1 Oct 2026

Next steps

• Search the exact address in EdMap before you sign a lease or a contract.
• Open the East Brisbane State School and Coorparoo Secondary College pages, then compare the zoned schools for your address in our catchment checker.
• Weighing a Catholic school as well? Coorparoo, next door, has two Catholic colleges of its own; its activities page covers how they enrol.
• Activities nearby: Norman Park, Woolloongabba and Kangaroo Point.