Yarra Me School - Number 3552

Search for another school

Details

Yarra Me School No. 3552, as it operates today, is a Flexible Learning Options School, providing classroom-based and outreach services to support students at risk or already disengaged from education. However, the school number 3552 has been in use, under different school names and campus locations, since 1907.

Opening in 1907: Royal Park Special School No. 3552 originally opened on the site of the Royal Park Depot (also known as the Boys’ and Girls’ Depot) on Park Street, Parkville. The site housed children who were under state care whether for welfare reasons or justice matters, and also included children with physical or intellectual disabilities. The school was co-educational until the laws changed in 1943.

The new boys school opens with a new number in 1943: With the change in laws, boys over fourteen years were transferred to the newly built Royal Park Special School No. 4609 on the same site in Parkville. Primary-aged boys remained at Royal Park Special School No. 3552.

Sometime between 1970 and 1973, Royal Park Special School No. 4609 changed its name to Turana Education Centre (Turana Youth Education Training Centre No. 4609).

In 1956: Winlaton Youth Training Centre (Youth Juvenile School) opened. Teenage girls at Royal Park were transferred there and attended the Winlaton Youth Training Centre School No. 4794.

In 1968: the then Social Welfare Branch of the Chief Secretary's Department, opened Baltara Reception Centre on the same site in Parkville. More information is available at the Finding Records website: Baltara Reception Centre (1968-1992) | Finding Records.

Name change in 1970: Royal Park Special School No. 3552 changed its name to Baltara Special School No. 3552.

Reforms in 1990s: The administrative separation of child protection and criminal matters under the Children and Young Persons Act 1989 led to the closure of Baltara Reception Centre at the end of 1992. Instead of one institution, a number of community-based residential and reception units opened, including secure welfare services and short- and medium-term housing. The schools in these units collectively used the school number 3552 and had campuses at:

• Park Street, Parkville
• Waratah Street, Thomastown
• Hurstbridge-Arthurs Creek Road, Nutfield
• High View Road, Preston
• Ascot Vale Road, Ascot Vale
• Bloomfield Avenue, Maribyrnong

Campus closure in 1992: The campus at Baltara Reception Centre in Royal Park closed in 1992 with the closure of the Reception Centre.

Campus name change in 2000: Windsor Secure Welfare Campus changed its name to Maribyrnong Secure Welfare Campus.

Name change in 2002: Baltara Special School No. 3552 changed its name to Baltara School No. 3552.

Campus name change and relocation in 2009: Northcote Campus moved to a wing of Thomastown East Primary School and was renamed Thomastown Campus.

Campus merger and relocation in 2011-2012: Olympic Village Social Adjustment Centre Campus of Preston North-East Primary School became a campus of Baltara School in 2011 and was renamed Preston Integration Unit in 2012.

De-merger 2013: Parkville Youth Residential Campus became part of the newly formed Parkville College No. 8916.

De-merger 2014: Ascot Vale Secure Welfare Campus and Maribyrnong Secure Welfare Campus became part of Parkville College No. 8916.

De-merger 2017-2018: Thomastown Campus closed at the end of 2017 and was consolidated with the Preston Integration Unit, together being renamed Preston Campus.

Name change in 2017: Baltara School No. 3552 changed its name to Yarra Me School No. 3552.

Yarra Me School operates two campuses:

• in Preston for students on a dual-enrolment basis, and
• a school at the Hurstbridge Farm, a therapeutic residential care setting run by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

Location of records

Most records are kept at the school. To request access, contact the school directly.

Some historic records (including enrolment records from 1930 to 2012, class photographs, yearbooks and school council papers) are held in the Department of Education’s archive. To request access, contact the department’s records team.

Contact the Department of Education's records team

Email: archives.records@education.vic.gov.au

Phone: 1800 359 140