We need a secondary school in Arden

The North and West Melbourne Association continues to strongly advocate for a secondary school in Arden. 

Our new train station has recently opened, yet large paddocks of land remain vacant while the government completes a development tender process that will deliver more than 20,000 new homes.

The 2025–26 State Budget included funding for the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) to purchase land for a new secondary school within the ~12-hectare Arden Central site. This is in addition to the primary school already included in the Arden Masterplan. Ridiculously, the land required for a government high school – currently owned by VicTrack – must be purchased at market rate between government departments.

Despite this budget commitment being made in June 2025, we have been left without transparency about whether the funds have been spent or the land secured. The VSBA will not provide updates on the acquisition process, while the Department of Transport has referred enquiries back to the VSBA. This bureaucratic loop is deeply frustrating.

University High School cannot be expected to continue carrying the consequences of planning failures across the inner city. While the school community has worked extraordinarily hard to manage enrolment demand, no single school should absorb the population growth projected for a city recently named “Best City in the World” by Time Out magazine.

It was therefore with great enthusiasm that we welcomed the recent call for another inner city public high school at Victoria Barracks on St Kilda Rd, Southbank. We add our voice to the Southbank community, which is advocating for long overdue secondary school infrastructure in a rapidly growing neighbourhood.

The federal government has recently indicated its intention to divest a number of under utilised Defence sites nationwide, including inner city sites in Carlton and Victoria Barracks. This presents a rare, once in a generation opportunity to repurpose large, centrally located public land in a way that delivers lasting community benefit.

Support for a high school at Victoria Barracks does not diminish the case for a new school at Arden. New public high schools in both locations would help rebalance enrolment demand across the inner city, ease pressure on University High School, and provide families with realistic, local options.

We thank Sean Car, publisher of North West City News, for his continued advocacy on these issues and for also seeking answers from the VSBA.

Inner city school enrolment pressures have not emerged by accident. They are the predictable outcome of years of high density development without the timely delivery of new public schools and supporting infrastructure.

Arden and Victoria Barracks represent opportunities to correct past mistakes. •