St Kilda Park Primary School has stood at the heart of St Kilda since 1882. For 144 years, generations of local children have learned, grown and formed lifelong connections here. Yet, throughout that entire history, the school has never had a hall.

We are asking the Victorian Government to commit funding for a new school and community hall, together with essential facilities upgrades at St Kilda Park Primary School.

When it rains, important activities must be relocated, reduced or cancelled. On very hot days, there is no indoor space large enough for our 320 students to gather safely and comfortably as one school.

Despite these limitations, SKiPPS is a thriving school with dedicated teachers, engaged students and a deeply committed community. We are not asking for luxury facilities. We are asking for the spaces a modern school needs to provide students with a complete education.

A new hall would allow our students to:

• gather indoors for assemblies and whole-school events
• participate in concerts, performances and celebrations
• undertake physical education and sport throughout the year
• learn, perform and connect together as one school community.

But this project would be about much more than the school.

St Kilda also needs accessible, medium-sized spaces where community groups can meet and local organisations can run classes, activities and programs. During evenings, weekends and school holidays, a hall at SKiPPS could be used for exercise classes, arts and cultural activities, meetings, workshops, children’s programs and community events.

Located on Fitzroy Street beside Albert Park, the school is ideally placed to become a welcoming and well-used community hub. At a time when the City of Port Phillip is planning for a growing and changing population, this is an opportunity to create a shared public resource that serves people of all ages.

Securing funds for a new building would also provide the opportunity to address other significant gaps in our school facilities

Over the past decade, the only significant Victorian Government capital allocation recorded for our school has been $200,000. In the same period all of the schools around us have received millions of dollars to create the kind of facilites that we are now asking for.

Our vision is positive and achievable: a modern, flexible hall and upgraded learning spaces that complement our historic school, support excellent education and open new opportunities for the wider St Kilda community.

Please sign this petition and join us in calling on the Victorian Government to:

• Commit funding for a school and community hall at St Kilda Park Primary School.
• Upgrade the school’s learning facilities to include dedicated science, technology and languages spaces.
• Provide students with clean, safe and modern toilet facilities.
• Work with the school and the City of Port Phillip to maximise community access to the new hall outside school hours.

After 144 years, it is time for the students of St Kilda Park Primary School to have a place where they can all come together.