Enrolments in Australia's Catholic schools have fallen for the second year in a row, while the number of students attending government and independent schools grows, new figures show.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data comes as the Coalition's election pledge to triple its annual spending on building classrooms for non-government schools shapes as the most divisive education pledge of the NSW election campaign so far.

Enrolments in Catholic schools fell for the second year in a row Credit:Reuters

After recording their first fall in more than 10 years in 2017, Catholic school enrolments across Australia again dropped by almost 1000 students last year. Independent enrolments grew, while government schools also continued an upward trend.

In the five years to 2018, Catholic schools' national enrolment share across the country dropped by almost one percentage point.