A Vision for the Future of St Kilda Park Primary School: School Council Update

If you've been part of our school community for a while, you'll know that one of School Council's long-term priorities has been advocating for improved facilities for St Kilda Park Primary School.

Over the past decade, schools right across our local area have received significant capital works funding to build new school halls, gyms, libraries, science facilities and modern learning spaces. During that same period, St Kilda Park Primary School has received just $200,000 in capital funding.

While our staff continue to provide a world-class education in the spaces we have, many of our existing buildings and facilities (like our unlovely student toilets) are now showing their age and there are several important facilities that our school simply doesn't have.

Most notably, we remain one of the few schools in our area without a school hall, meaning assemblies, indoor PE lessons, performances and community events all need to be held outdoors or in spaces never designed for these purposes. This week students have shivered and tried to stay dry during their outdoors sports lessons and gymnastics sessions.

We also lack dedicated specialist learning spaces for Science, Technology and Italian, limiting the opportunities we can provide our students.

School Council believes our students deserve facilities that match the outstanding teaching and learning taking place every day at SKiPPS.

Over recent months, our Buildings and Grounds Sub-Committee has been working hard to develop a long-term vision for our school.

Thanks to the incredible generosity and expertise of Bron Hosking, we are excited to share the first concept plans for what could become the next chapter in the history of St Kilda Park Primary School.

The proposed development includes:

A purpose-built learning building.
This contains a brand new school hall providing a dedicated space for assemblies, performances, indoor sport and whole-school events, while also offering opportunities for community hire outside school hours.
Modern student toilet facilities.
New classroom spaces
A state-of-the-art STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) laboratory designed to inspire curiosity, creativity and innovation.
An outdoor learning terrace to extend teaching and learning beyond the classroom.
An open-air rooftop half-court basketball court

These concept plans represent far more than just a new building. They represent an opportunity to create contemporary learning environments that will benefit our students for generations to come and ensure our facilities reflect the quality of education our school is known for.

Of course, turning this vision into reality will require a strong community campaign.

The recent successful campaign by St Kilda Primary School to secure funding for a new school hall has provided a valuable blueprint for how schools like ours can successfully advocate for major investment. We believe our community has the passion, expertise and determination to achieve a similarly positive outcome for SKiPPS.

As we begin this next stage, we are calling on members of our community who may be able to help. In particular, we would love to hear from parents or carers with experience in;

media,
public relations,
communications,
marketing or
advertising

who can help us tell our story, build momentum and ensure our message reaches the people who make these important funding decisions.

If you feel you can help and have the skills or experience to take these ideas and our campaign to the next level, we would love to hear from you.

Please email Elisa Webb elisawebb@yahoo.com.au and Kara Barbuto karabarbuto@gmail.com, our School Council President and Vice President, to express your interest.

Whether your expertise is in media, public relations, marketing, communications, advocacy or another relevant field, your support could make a genuine difference as we work together to secure the facilities our students and wider community deserve.

SKiPPS School Council