PRIMARY school populations in the Coburg area are ballooning, with enrolments for next year more than doubling the number of grade 6 leavers, according to a new report.

Residents’ group High School for Coburg, which compiled the report, says it proves the need for another Coburg high school.

Coburg students are now being forced to commute to high schools in surrounding suburbs. About a third of Brunswick Secondary College’s 900 students are from Coburg.

Talks about high schools in the Coburg area will be held at a meeting between the group and the Department of Education and Early Childhood this week.

The group wants to expand Coburg Senior High School.

The expansion of the existing high school, adding grades 7-9 at one of the local primary schools, and increasing the capacity of another secondary school in the region are all options to be discussed at the meeting with the department.

The High School for Coburg report, based on data provided by local schools and the state education department, will be presented to Education Minister Martin Dixon together with letters of support from 10 surrounding schools including Northcote High, Thornbury High and Brunswick East Primary.

High School for Coburg co-founder Cate Hall said the data showed prep enrolments for 2012 at local primary schools were more than double the number of grade 6 leavers.

Total enrolments at 12 local state primary schools are also expected to increase by almost 900 students from 2009 to 2013, according to the report. “That is nearly a whole high school worth there,” Ms Hall said. “It’s clearly time to have an open-entry high school in Coburg.”

Education department spokesman Stuart Teather said a range of options for secondary education in the Coburg area would be discussed at this week’s meeting.