Victoria school zone map: Melbourne Girls, McKinnon, Princes Hill among 22 changes

Zoning changes in 2022 will see kids in Port Melbourne no longer eligible for Albert Park College and Southbank students sent to Prahran. See the full list of changes here.

Susie O'Brien, Suzan Delibasic and EXCLUSIVE

4 min read

June 28, 2021 - 2:48PM

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The State Government has changed the school zones of 22 primary schools and high schools due to school upgrades and changing demographics.

Some of the state’s best-performing schools will have new zones, including McKinnon Secondary College, Melbourne Girls’ College and Princes Hill Secondary College.

The changes have a major impact on Southbank and South Melbourne residents, who are currently zoned for Collingwood College which is up to more than seven kms away.

The end of an arduous commute across the city tranversing both the freeway and the Yarra River will be welcome for some.

The Collingwood College zone now ends at the Yarra River near Flinders Street.

Under the new plan, Southbank residents from the river to the freeway will be zoned for the new vertical Fisherman’s Bend Secondary College, which will include all of Port Melbourne and South Wharf.

Much of the area now zoned for the new school is currently zoned for the popular Albert Park College on Danks St in the heart of the leafy inner beach suburb. The school’s zone is estimated to be worth up to $500,000 by local real estate agents.

More than 20 Victorian schools will be rezoned in the shuffle. Picture: Nicole Cleary

It’s been bursting at the seams, with its 1500 students coming from St Kilda West all the way up to Port Melbourne and South Melbourne.

Albert Park College’s new zone ends at Bay St which becomes City Rd, along with Kings Way and Queens Rd to the east and Fitzroy St to the south.

The zone for Prahran High School, which opened in 2019, used to end at the north at Cecil St and Southbank Boulevard, now ends up at the freeway.

The changes come as many schools have told parents either directly or indirectly they must live in the zone the whole time their kids are enrolled.

In defiance of education department policy, some schools such as East Doncaster Secondary College, are even telling parents that if their child moves out of the zone, they must “enrol their child in the neighbourhood school closest to their new residential address”.

Until 2019, Balwyn High told parents the same thing and had an enrolment policy stating that their residential zone would be “actively monitored and enforced”.

This has included a deputy principal doorknocking parents believed to be lying about their residency.

Although schools can check electoral rolls and demand rental agreements and house ownership papers, the department’s policy forbids them to conduct home inspections or other surveillance.

The school now tells parents that “prospective enrolments are required to provide evidence of their ongoing and permanent residence within the zone”.

But the Herald Sun exclusively revealed that students can continue studying at prestigious state schools even if they move out of the residential zone.

For years some of Melbourne’s most in-demand public schools have told parents their children will be forced to leave the school if they leave the zone.

But the Education Department has confirmed no child can be forced to move schools once they have started.

It comes as some parents are paying up to $500,000 more to move into top school zones or rent while buying somewhere cheaper to keep their kids in the right zone.

Balwyn High parent and real estate agent Claire Wenn said parents had a “fear of their kids being thrown out” which limits where parents rent and buy around the area.

“They are too scared to buy out of the zone – even one street – for fear of being kicked out of the school,” she said.

Princes Hill Secondary College will have a change to its zone. Picture: Mark Stewart

“They buy out of the zone where they can afford then rent in it to keep the kids in the school,” Ms Wenn said.

Her colleague Maurice Di Mazzio said the Balwyn High zone added ten per cent or more to house prices.

Other schools, such as Mount Waverley Secondary College and Box Hill High School, tell parents there is an “expectation that families will remain permanent residents within the school neighbourhood area for the duration of their child’s/children’s education at the college”.

Brighton Secondary College tells parents it is a “zoned school and therefore requires families and students to be permanent residents in the school zone”.

Princess Hill Secondary College website notes that “permanent residency status will be actively monitored by the school. Parents are expected to update residential and contact details each school year on Compass.”

A department spokeswoman said “every child has the right to enrol at their closest government school regardless of capacity or at another school of their choice, provided that school has sufficient space to accommodate them”.