Windback Wednesday - Rose Park Primary School

Rose Park Primary School opened in 1893 to alleviate overcrowding at the nearby Norwood School, which had over 1,200 students in 1890. The primary school was built to accommodate up to 500 students, but by the end of its first year enrolment had already reached 590. The school buildings were expanded over the following decades, but overcrowding would remain a consistent issue until the opening of Linden Park Primary School in 1950.

It wasn't just the classrooms that were too small for their purpose. At the time Rose Park Primary School was built, the site was surrounded by open fields and planners saw no need for a purpose-built outdoor play space. Unfortunately, as the surrounding land was later subdivided and developed, students had nowhere to play outdoors. It wasn't until the 1980s that the Department of Education purchased several adjoining allotments to create an open grassed area colloquially known as "the Block", allowing students to enjoy their recreation time outside.

Photographs: Rose Park Primary School, 1910 and Rose Park Primary School c.1990. Burnside Local History Collection.