The Ponds is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Ponds is located approximately west-northwest (WNW) of the Sydney central business district in the Blacktown local government area. At the , The Ponds had an estimated resident population of . History "The Ponds" was a name designed to reflect the geography of the area and was derived from the nearby creek called "Second Ponds Creek", and the growing population. The Ponds was officially designated as a separate suburb in January 2007. The Ponds had previously been part of the suburbs of Kellyville and Kellyville Ridge. Population In the 2016 Census, there were 11,731 people in The Ponds. 50.3% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 14.3%, Philippines 4.3%, England 2.2%, Sri Lanka 2.2% and China 1.9%. 49.4% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Punjabi 5.9%, Hindi 5.9%, Gujarati 2.9%, Mandarin 2.5% and Urdu 2.1%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 24.9%, Hinduism 14.8%, No Religion 14.0%, Anglican 9.1% and Islam 8.3%. According to data from the 2011 census, the Australian Bureau of Statistics ranked The Ponds as the most advantaged suburb of Sydney by the use of twenty-five variables, including income, internet access, number of bedrooms and resident qualifications. With more than 71 per cent of the population aged over 15 years married, census data shows that The Ponds has the highest percentage of married people per suburb in Australia. Housing The Ponds is situated in the North West growth corridor, where the first stage of a major shopping centre and commercial space have opened. A new suburb was designed to make the estate a new community. The first lots of land were released on 31 March 2007. In 2012, The Ponds developed received two industry awards; taking out first place in the Residential Development and Sustainable Development categories at the UDIA NSW Austral Bricks Awards for Excellence. Education The Ponds has two primary schools, John Palmer Public School, which opened in 2008 and Riverbank Public School, which opened in 2015. The Ponds also has a high school, The Ponds High School, which opened in 2015. A "special needs" school, The Ponds School, also opened in 2015. Hospitals Hospitals nearby include Norwest Private, Westmead Hospital, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead Private, Mount Druitt Hospital, and Blacktown