School name is official

By Sean Car

The Department of Education and Training (DET) has officially named the new primary school in Ferrars St, Southbank, as South Melbourne Primary School.

The State Government confirmed the name last month despite failing to give the community an opportunity to have its say on the school’s title.

As per the DET’s official naming guidelines, the community should be given a 30-day consultation period before a name was formalised.

Having held the interim name of South Melbourne (Ferrars St) Primary School until last month’s announcement, it was expected that consultation would occur this year.

However, despite many in the community pushing for the school to be named after either Southbank or Montague, the State Government drew a line in the sand in October.

“This school has been called South Melbourne Primary School since we came to government and has already become a prominent landmark,” a DET spokesperson stated.

“The school name will be formalised as South Melbourne Primary School for the start of the 2018 school year.”

With the school located in the Southbank locality and having attracted 80 per cent of enrolments from Southbank families, the Southbank Residents’ Association had led a campaign to name the school after Southbank.

This push was supported by the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, who recently wrote to Minister for Education James Merlino requesting that he consider the name Southbank Primary School.

With the school located in the Montague Precinct of Fishermans Bend, many others in the community had called for the government to name the school Montague Primary.

While the naming process has frustrated many in the community, the announcement now provides certainty for the school’s administration for important essentials such as uniforms and an ABN.

South Melbourne Primary School will open in term one in 2018.