Fresh budget funding keeps Arden Secondary School moving, but questions remain

The long-awaited Arden Secondary School has received a further funding boost in the Victorian Budget, offering another positive sign that planning for the new inner-city high school is continuing, even if key details remain frustratingly unclear.

The latest budget includes new funding for the project as part of a broader $419.6 million package for new schools across Victoria. While the government has not disclosed the exact amount allocated specifically to Arden Secondary School, it has confirmed the money is intended to support planning, design and early works.

For families in North and West Melbourne, Docklands and the wider CBD, that is welcome news. But with pressure on inner-city secondary schools continuing to intensify, many in the community are still looking for greater transparency and a clearer timeline for delivery.

When pressed by North West City News for more detail, Northern Metropolitan MP Sheena Watt said the project was continuing to progress as part of the government’s broader planning for growth.

“Arden is one of Melbourne’s most significant urban renewal opportunities – well-connected, centrally located, and ready to deliver for a growing city,” she said.

We’re planning a new school in North Melbourne – delivering for the future of our growing community. Our planning gets the project designed and ready for works.

On background, Ms Watt’s office confirmed that Arden Secondary School, currently an interim name, had received a share of the $419.6 million allocated for new schools in the 2026-27 budget. That funding is to go towards planning, design and early works.

The latest allocation builds on last year’s initial funding announcement, when the 2025-26 budget included $1 million to identify sites for new schools in growth areas, including Arden. That earlier commitment was broadly welcomed but also prompted questions about whether land had actually been secured and whether the school could arrive in time to ease mounting enrolment pressure in the inner city.

Those concerns have only grown since. University High School, which is the main secondary school for much of Docklands, North Melbourne and the surrounding area, is already operating beyond capacity and has had to expand into a leased CBD office building for its Year 9 cohort. Meanwhile, Docklands Primary School has only just secured budget funding for land for a second campus after rapidly outgrowing its original site.

The state government’s latest investment is therefore clearly a step in the right direction. But for many families and advocates, the core issue remains urgency.

Arden is expected to become one of Melbourne’s biggest urban renewal precincts, with around 20,000 residents projected by 2051. With Metro Tunnel services about to transform the precinct’s connectivity and major housing growth, the case for a new secondary school is only becoming stronger.

For now, the new budget commitment is another sign that Arden Secondary School remains firmly on the agenda. The next challenge will be turning that planning money into the certainty the community is still waiting for.  •