A message from the Principal

Welcome to our first newsletter of term 3 and the second half of the school year. 

The recent school holidays provided us with a much-needed break and it has been great this week to hear about the different ways that families spent the holidays - many understandably escaping to warmer locations! We are energised for a big term at school, focusing on every child's learning each day whilst also enjoying some big activities like Book Week, Swimming and Gymnastics. 

For myself and some parent members of our School Council, the school holidays were quite eventful. As many of you will be aware, a little over 12 months ago, the City of Port Phillip (CoPP) Council surprised us with a plan to construct public toilets in the parkland at the front of the school, facing onto Fitzroy Street.

This proposal alarmed our School Council and many SKiPPS families as every previous attempt to operate public toilets on the street had been abandoned, demolished or closed due to high levels of antisocial behaviour. Understandably, we did not wish to see a similar story unfolding on the doorstep of the school.

Last June, despite a petition signed by over 1319 members of our community and extensive media attention, the Council decided to proceed with this plan.

The hard work and opposition of our School Council continued regardless of this decision and this paid off during the school holidays when Councillor Rhonda Clark proposed a new motion for the CoPP Council that stated;

Notice of Motion

That Council:

1. Directs that work on the Fitzroy Street toilet block be immediately discontinued.
2. Directs the CEO or their delegate to focus Council resources on the delivery of other important public toilet projects detailed in the Draft Public Toilet Plan 2023-33, pending the results of the community engagement process, with an alternative Fitzroy Street location to be revaluated no sooner than 2025.
3. Consults with the relevant stakeholders, including nearby residents, community organisations and St Kilda Park Primary School as part of any future revaluation process to ensure transparency and gather input.

After a frantic 48 hours to rally support for this motion, including media coverage in The Age, Channel 9, Channel 7 and ABC Melbourne radio and a huge show of support from our families and the wider St Kilda community, CoPP Council met last Wednesday (5th July) to consider and vote.

We were incredibly relieved when Council narrowly voted to support Councillor Clark's motion, meaning that the immediate plans to build toilets outside the school have been halted and the process has gone back to the drawing board to ensure that a more suitable location is selected.

This outcome represents a great end-point for a campaign that so many members of our school community have contributed to over the last 15 months and I would like to thank everyone who lent their voices, sent emails or otherwise let Council know that this was the wrong project, in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

There are a few people in particular who contributed hugely to this outcome;

• Elisa Webb - Our School Council President for her work from the start to engage with decision-makers, attend meetings, send letters and coordinate opposition.
• Dave Williams - for his tenacious and tireless work this year to bring the issue back to Council and to raise awareness of our concerns.
• Hannah Lawson, Rowena Fitzgerald, Chrissy Manonian and Alex McCall - For their work as School Councillors to lead our campaign - sending letters, engaging with the community and regularly asking questions at Council meetings.
• Jenni Roper, Claire Mear & Campbell Spence - for their work in the wider community and on social media to ensure our argument was heard.
• Councillors Clark, Sirakoff, Nyaguy, Cunsolo and Crawford for listening to our concerns and voting to stop this project from happening. 
• Nina Taylor and Josh Burns - our State and Federal MPs for their vocal support and hard work behind the scenes to change the minds of members of CoPP Council.

The last couple of weeks have demonstrated a couple of things to me; 

Firstly, the power of a community working hard together to make their voices heard for a cause they believe in. Of not giving up when faced with a setback and finding new ways to bring about a positive end result for the sake of others.

Secondly, and most importantly, it has shown the wonderful kindness, dedication and commitment of our SKiPPS community. Seeing the huge numbers of families who came along to the Town Hall on a cold winter's night during the school holidays, who turned up at a moment's notice at the school for various news crews and journalists and who have spent the last year emailing and advocating for our students is really amazing to see. This has also involved a large number of ex-parents who still feel connected to SKiPPS and were also worried by the Council's proposal.

I am so proud to be a part of such a strong community.

Neil Scott

Principal