School overcrowding in Melbourne has been in the news lately, Julie spoke with John Faine on ABC 774 Radio about our kids learning in fire escapes and corridors because local schools are beyond capacity.

"Children have even been asked to bring in headphones so they can listen to lessons on their iPads, as there’s four teachers competing against each other in a double classroom jammed with 100 students,"- Julie in the Herald Sun.

Take north Melbourne Primary School for example, some of our kids are learning to read and write in unheated stairwells. The Government is really keen to invest in building Victoria as the "Education State", except the state of education for our city kids is nowhere near where it needs to be.

We're making some noise and people are starting to pay attention about the need to build schools in the city to ease over-crowding and provide some much needed community infrastructure. Everyone except the Minister for Education and Deputy Premier, James Merlino.

I'm emailing the Minister the following picture taken out the front of North Melbourne Primary School to show him the situation is now critical. Can you join me in writing to Minister Merlino to tell him there's one easy fix to the overcrowding problem- build more schools!  I know you're busy so I've written a sample letter, of course you're welcome to draft your own. We need to make sure that the Minister hears the real stories of overcrowding in our area, our kids are not just statistics.

Thank you for all your support, we're making progress together!

Michelle and Julie

City Schools 4 City Kids

PS- Don't forget to enter our competition to build your very own dream school, click on this link for more information.

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Open Letter to Minister Merlino

I'm disappointed that there wasn't money in the 2016 Budget for a CBD or Docklands school for our city kids. There are currently children in the CBD and Docklands with no inclusive local school to go to.

Neighbouring schools in North Melbourne and Port Melbourne (for which Docklands children are zoned) already have far more students than what was stated in the Stage 1 Docklands School Provisions report and enrolments are consistently growing at a much greater rate than projected. The City of Melbourne is the fastest growing metropolitan area in Australia, and yet school infrastructure has not kept up with population growth.

We understand money was committed for schools in South Melbourne, Prahran, Richmond and other areas. However, due to local population growth these schools will soon also be full, and our kids in the city deserve schools in their own school.

A solution to this overcrowding cannot wait. These neighbouring schools do not have enough room to accommodate the number of relocatable classrooms required  to accommodate their surging student populations, even in the short term without having a detrimental impact on outdoor play and education activities that are crucial for optimal child development.

Minister, please let me know when you will be able to commit funding for CBD or Docklands schools. We will continue to advocate for this important cause until we see new schools in the City of Melbourne for our kids.