By Kieran Rooney and Rachel Eddie
More than 40 government schools in Melbourne’s and Victoria’s west will open their ovals and gyms to the community once classes are over in a pilot program to give Victorians more public space.
Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll will announce the trial program on Wednesday, making fields and facilities available at 41 government-owned school campuses, all of which have been recently opened.
Premier Jacinta Allan and Deputy Premier Ben Carroll at Pascoe Vale South Primary School.Credit: Justin McManus
Starting immediately, the program builds on a recommendation from Infrastructure Victoria calling for the opening of about 500 schools that are not available to the public, providing the equivalent of 110 MCGs of open space.
“Our kids deserve excellent gyms, ovals, playgrounds and open spaces – now, more Victorians will be able to enjoy them too,” Carroll said.
“This move will mean everyone can enjoy our record investment in schools – turning them into thriving local hubs that encourage people to get active and learn new skills.”
The 41 schools in the pilot program have been open since 2017 at the earliest.
Most of those in the list are from the growing local government areas of Wyndham and Melton, alongside some inner-city locations including Docklands Primary School and North Melbourne Primary School.
Regional areas have also been added, including Armstrong Creek in Geelong, Lucas in Ballarat and Torquay on the Surf Coast.
Of 1580 government schools in Victoria, two-thirds already share their grounds for informal community use.
If successful, the pilot could pave a way for an even greater share of these to be made available.
The Allan government will spend $1.4 million for a support team to facilitate the use of the 41 new public spaces, managing administration or liaising with the community.
This could include finding opportunities for community groups to use local facilities and helping to arrange additional cleaning.
The availability of sporting grounds and other community facilities has increasingly become an issue as Melbourne’s population has grown, placing pressure on facilities and challenging authorities to build in new suburbs.
When Infrastructure Victoria recommended the opening of more school facilities in October 2024, chief executive Jonathan Spear said about 1.7 million Melburnians could not access community fields within a 10-minute walk.
If all government grounds were opened, half a million of these people would have access.
“It seems crazy to us that some councils are forced to spend millions of dollars on small pocket parks when more schools could be supported to open up their grounds to local communities,” he said at the time.
“As Victoria grows and more people live closer together, sharing more school grounds can benefit many more people in cities like Melbourne and, in the longer term, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.”
In the 2024 report, Infrastructure Victoria estimated that government school sports fields and outdoor courts in Melbourne had a total land value of $6.6 billion.
In February, Melbourne City Council calculated it had lost more than 70 hectares of sports grounds over the past 20 years, putting pressure on sporting clubs with a growing a number of players.
Labor has committed to open 100 new schools by 2026. Since 2017, it has delivered 40 schools in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
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