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According to an agreement between the Melbourne City Council and the Education Department, the Council built a largish annexe to the Infant Department at Pigdon Street, while the Education Department supplied the teachers3. ’ The Centre was open to children under the age of four and a half. Intent on representing a cross-section of the community, the kindergarten only accepted children recommended by the Health Department Medical Officers; the school staff had no say in the selection.
Kindergarten
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Classes at Pigdon Street, c.
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1948-9.
Few enrolment records for the kindergarten have survived, but we do know that in 1940, twenty children were enrolled in the Nursery Class under the care of Miss Bennett, and another 34 attended kindergarten under the care of Miss Frier. By 1949, enrolments in the Nursery School had increased to fifty4. A nursing sister was also in attendance. Marjorie, who was a student in the late 1930s, remembers Sister Smith, ‘an older woman with white hair, rather tall and slim. She was kind and friendly and we were not in awe of her or scared of her.’ When Marjorie’s own children attended the Health Centre in the 1950s, Marjorie and other mothers assisted the staff with morning lunches.
The years between 1937 and 1944 were difficult difficult for the centre. Closed through staff shortages for all of 1938 and much of 19395, the centre was again closed temporarily during the polio epidemic of 1939.6 By 1940, the building had deteriorated to a disgraceful extent. Numerous leaks in the roof had stained and corroded the ceilings;7 the building was so dirty that it had to be disinfected.8 Staff shortages again closed the kindergarten class in 1942. Two years later, tired of the disruptions, 22 mothers petitioned the Education Department to appoint specialised teachers to the Centre. The constant staff changes, they argued, were harming their children emotionally.9
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The curriculum was the same as that taught in Victorian primary schools. It fitted the Department’s wish that partially blind children should, whenever possible, return to normal classrooms to continue their education17. ” Some of the readers used included Richard Jefferies’ Brook Folk, R. L. Stevenson’s A Night Among the Pines and Treasure Island, Jerome K. Jerome’s Packing and Coal-Bay, The Outlaw Horse and other animal stories, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.18 Clay modelling, drawing, listening to music and spelling based on phonetic exercises were regular aspects of the day’s work. Particular attention was paid to elocution and speech, concentrating on proper ‘vowel-sounds, which Miss Checcucci believed would help to raise the children’s self-esteem.” The Physical Education Department devised special exercises for the children. 20
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Princes Hill’s Saturday School of Modern Languages has attracted attention for its innovative and successful language teaching. The school has developed curricula that are now widely used in Victoria and interstate, and has achieved excellent academic results. In 1988, the Saturday School of Modern Languages was rewarded with a new name, the Victorian School of Languages, and was given the authority and responsibilities of a state school, complete A with its own School Council, financial responsibility and determination of curriculum policy.26
Princes Hill School Park Centre
In 1973, Alleyne Sier and Frank Keenan, Director of Parks and Gardens of the Melbourne City Council, realised a unique project at Princes Hill. Following amendments to the Youth, Sport and Recreation Act in 1973, which permitted the use of schools for community purposes, they won the support of the Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation, Brian Dixon, and opened the schools as an after—hours community centre, known as the Princes Hill School Park Centre.27
The Princes Hill School Park Centre incorporates the Primary School, Secondary College and the Melbourne City Council. Its constitution sets out the aims of the Centre, the rights of use, and roles of the Director, the Management and Co—ordinating Coordinating Committees representing the schools, the Melbourne City Council, the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation, the Carlton Association and the Centre.
Aiming to enhance the sense of community, the Princes Hill Park Centre provides space and opportunities for neighbourhood residents of all age groups to participate in physical, cultural, social, educational and recreational activities. Although the constitution refers to participants being residents within the neighbourhood of the schools, ‘users come from Princes‘ Hill, Carlton, North‘ Carlton, Parkville, South Brunswick and sections of Fitzroy.28 The school buildings, the arts and crafts centres, the theatre, the gymnasium and the park are available to participants. In‘ the past, these facilities have been used for film screenings, for theatrical, musical and dance performances, and to offer tuition in such varied courses as ceramics, microwave cookery, computers, French polishing, yoga, aerobics and evening language classes for adults.29
Today, the Princes Hill Park Centre has a wide network of affiliated groups, including the North Carlton Station Community House, North Carlton Residents’ Association, Carlton Community Welfare Group, Carlton Youth Services Group, Princes Hill Primary School Parents’ Club, St Michael’s Anglican Church, Mirimbah Country Centre, Princes Hill Tennis Club, Princes Hill Junior Amateur Football Club, One-C-One and the Kay Gee’s gymnasium.