---
title: "Gold Coast school surfing program axed at Elanora High"
author: "Tom Walsh"
datePublished: 2026-07-20T06:56:49.000Z
canonical: "https://dudeworld.com.au/post/00tig5c0gc4xq/gold-coast-surfing-program-axed-elanora-2026"
---

At 6am, most school programs are still asleep. [Elanora State High’s Cooee GC program](https://elanorashs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/senior-secondary/cooee-gc) has been getting senior students into the water before class and pointing them toward work or study after Year 12. Now it is being phased out, with no new students to be accepted and the current group allowed to finish by the end of 2027, according to [ABC News reporting](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/elanora-state-high-axes-cooee-gc-surfing-program/106929470) and the departmental response in that story.

The detail families keep coming back to is that Cooee GC was not some loose Friday arvo surf elective. The [school’s own outline of the program](https://elanorashs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/senior-secondary/cooee-gc) says it serves Year 11 and 12 students, starts training days at 6am, and ties surfing to alternative learning and pathways beyond the classroom. The [Queensland Department of Education previously promoted the program](https://alt-qed.qed.qld.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media/stories/surfing-and-pathways) as a mix of surfing, confidence-building and post-school planning, and said 46 students were enrolled in 2025. On that part of the coast, an early surf can sit beside school drop-off and work without anyone needing to dress it up. Losing a pathway like that feels bigger than a timetable tweak.

Parent Sharyn Johnstone told [ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/elanora-state-high-axes-cooee-gc-surfing-program/106929470) the call made no sense given the program’s record and backing in the community.

> “Why would you shut down something that was doing so well and that had so much success?”  
> Sharyn Johnstone, [ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/elanora-state-high-axes-cooee-gc-surfing-program/106929470)

Her frustration is not hard to understand. Cooee GC launched in 2017 and, by the department’s earlier account, was meant to connect surfing culture with confidence, engagement and clearer next steps after school. Chief-of-staff notes on the story also point to links with apprenticeships, volunteering and alternative learning. Parents are treating this as more than a niche sports-stream argument because the practical change is blunt: current students can finish, but future starters are out.

Prospective-student parent Alle Davidson was among those raising the alarm because the grace period does little for families not already through the gate. A program can “continue” for one cohort and still be dead for everyone behind them. Admin wording may survive in a memo. It sounds worse in the car park.

## Why the pushback is sticking

The official line, as carried in [ABC’s report](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/elanora-state-high-axes-cooee-gc-surfing-program/106929470), is that current students will finish in the existing format through 2027. That gives the department a continuity argument. It does not answer the obvious local question: if the program is worth preserving for the teenagers already enrolled, why close the door on another intake?

> “The program will continue in its current format until participating students graduate at the end of 2027.”  
> Queensland Department of Education spokesperson, [ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/elanora-state-high-axes-cooee-gc-surfing-program/106929470)

Elanora State High has not exactly hidden what the pathway was meant to do. On its [Cooee GC page](https://elanorashs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/senior-secondary/cooee-gc), the school says surfing culture plays a key role in the development of the young people in the program. On the Gold Coast, that is not airy brand copy. It is close to how plenty of families organise school, training, work and identity around the water. Matt Barber, Cooee GC’s founder, is part of that credibility too; his involvement made the program feel more serious than a token sports stream.

A policy problem is tucked inside the local surf yarn. Schools and departments often talk about engagement, alternative pathways and keeping teenagers connected to real-world goals. Fair enough. But when a program appears to tick those boxes, the bar for shutting it down should be higher than a vague change of direction. We do not need a culture-war pantomime here. We need the explanation families say they have not had.

For now, the practical outcome is narrow and sharp. Existing students can finish. New students cannot join. A pathway that got teenagers into the water at dawn and, by the department’s own account, helped point them toward life after school is being wound back on one of the country’s most surf-mad stretches of coast. No wonder this has moved beyond school admin and into ordinary surf-family talk.