Catchment zone and principal announced for new South Melbourne Primary School

PARENTS hoping to send children to the new South Melbourne primary school can now start making solid plans, with a draft zone released and a new principal appointed.

Port Melbourne Primary students will be among the many to benefit from the new school. Picture: Sarah Matray

PARENTS hoping to send children to the new South Melbourne primary school can now start planning, with a draft zone now released.

And a new principal has also been appointed for the Ferrars St school, to open next year.

According to the Victorian School Building Authority’s proposed primary school enrolment map, the catchment zone for the vertical school is bounded by Pickles and Ingles streets, the Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay.

For years nearby schools, particularly Port Melbourne Primary, have struggled with rising enrolments, with numbers skyrocketing from 735 in 2015 to 812 this year.

The proposed boundaries mean families living east of Ingles St who are currently enrolled at Port Melbourne will be able to transfer to the new school for 2018.

Anyone living east of Ferrars St enrolling at school for the first time for 2018 will be directed to South Melbourne Primary.

The school will be home to about 550 students in the heart of the new Ferrars Street Eduation and Community precinct, which will also include sports grounds and maternal and child health services and an early learning centre.

Noel Creece, from Belmont in Geelong, will take up the role of founding principal of the brand new school from January 30.

Mr Creece, whose teaching career has spanned more than 26 years, said he was looking forward to the challenges of “starting from scratch”.

New primcipal Noel Creece

“In the past I’ve been a custodian of the school’s history; I’ve been handed the baton and tried to improve the school in preparation of passing that baton on,” he said.

“Here, I represent 100 per cent of this school’s history and I need to make sure that when the time comes, that baton I’m passing on is something worth grabbing.”

Mr Creece said spruiking the new school, which is set to open next year, to families already entrenched in nearby primary schools would likely be the toughest part of his year.

“I haven’t got bricks and mortar to show them, just promises and concepts,” he said.

“My philosophy is to construct the needs of the school around according to the needs of the students in front of me, but I haven’t got any yet,” he said.

Mr Creece will be based at Albert Park College this year but he planned to visit nearby primary schools to meet with students and parents living in the Ferrars St catchment area.

Mr Creece will move into the area in the coming weeks to “be part of the community”.

Parts of Kerr, Gladstone and Ferrars streets will be closed to make way for the Montague Community Park, which will be shared by the school and the wider community.

And 52 on-street car parking spaces — 23 on Gladstone St and 29 on Ferrars St — are slated for removal as part of the project, which is jointly funded by the State Government and Port Phillip Council.

But a funding shortfall has delayed the park’s opening, granting a reprieve for businesses in the area who have blasted plans to cut valuable parking spaces.

The delay means the park will not be ready in time for the school’s opening and pressure is mounting on the State Government to stump up the cash in the next budget.

Cr Andrew Bond said the park’s delay was a “sad occasion” for new students to the school.

“The best outcome for the school would be to have the park and streetscape open for the start of the school year,” he said.

Cr Marcus Pearl said with works on the park stalled until funding came through, he hoped “to see something in the next budget announcement”.

The State Government and Port Phillip Council forked out more than $25 million between them for the 3450sq m industrial site on Buckhurst St to turn it into the community park.

Enrolments for prep to Grade 6 at the Ferrars St school will open in term three this year.