Docklands deserves a real plan for public education

Over the past month I’ve visited several of our inner-city schools, including University High’s Year 9 city campus, North Melbourne Primary, and our much-loved Docklands Primary. 

Every visit reminds me how lucky we are to have such vibrant, high-quality public schools in the heart of Melbourne.

But behind the scenes, there’s a growing challenge that Docklands families know all too well: overcrowding and enrolment pressure.

Docklands Primary, only a few years old, is already feeling the strain. As more families move in to live in this fabulous area, we’re seeing increasing demand for school places. We welcome these families – but the government isn’t keeping up with services and school provision.

And with Docklands kids zoned to Uni High, which is also bursting at the seams, there is so much uncertainty for families about the future of their children’s schooling.

Instead of building schools in anticipation of population growth, the Victorian Labor Government waits until our schools are bursting at the seams, and then scrambles to fix the problem. It’s reactive, short-sighted, and unfair to families who just want certainty about where their children will go to school.

The Arden precinct is a prime example of missed opportunity. Around 30,000 people will eventually call Arden home, yet there’s only one new primary school planned and no confirmed site for a high school.

The recent State Budget did include some money to buy land for a new high school in inner Melbourne, which is a welcome step and something I’ve been lobbying for, but many questions still remain about where the school will be, how big it will be, and whether one extra school will be enough for the 30,000 new residents of Arden plus all the other growth in population that is expected to happen in the City of Melbourne.

We also don’t know where exactly this new school will be and which communities it will serve. Will it help to alleviate pressure on University High or by the time it is built will it be too late? And what about Docklands Primary which desperately needs a permanent second campus or expansion.

Families in Docklands deserve answers and a clear plan. A great local public school should be guaranteed, not left to chance.

I’ll keep pushing the government to stop playing catch-up and start planning properly for the future of our growing communities – including right here in Docklands.

Caption: State Greens MP for Melbourne Ellen Sandell at Docklands Primary School.