Albert Park College is a public, co-educational high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in Albert Park, Victoria

Albert Park, Victoria

Albert Park is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, Albert Park had a population of 5827....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Construction of the new school was completed in September 2010, and opened in February 2011. The school offers new facilities, with contemporary architecture designed by Woods Bagot

Woods Bagot

Woods Bagot is a global design studio specialising in the design and planning of facilities across three key sectors: education and science, lifestyle, and workplace....

. The school opened with Year 7 and expects to grow to full capacity over the next 6 years, including general and "select entry" enrolments. The curriculum includes Arts and Culture (English, French, Art, Music & Drama), Science and Exploration (Mathematics, Science, Food & Technology) and Student Leadership (Sport, Physical Education & Community Leadership).

History

The new school is built on the site of the previous Albert Park College in Danks Street which closed at the end of 2006 due to low enrolments. Originally opened as Albert Park High School, it was renamed Hobson's Bay Secondary College, and then Albert Park Secondary College before closing in 2006.

In 2002 the State Government spent $1 million on renovations to fix leaking walls and rotting carpet, local MP John Thwaites

John Thwaites (Australian politician)

Johnstone William "John" Thwaites , Australian politician, was Deputy Premier of the state of Victoria from 1999 to 2007.-Early life :...

 saying the decay was caused by eight years of neglect by the former Kennett government

Jeff Kennett

Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC , a former Australian politician, was the Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999. He is currently the President of Hawthorn Football Club. He is the founding Chairman of beyondblue, a national depression initiative.- Early life :Kennett was born in Melbourne on 2 March...

. In the five years to 2005 student numbers had fallen from 460 to 242, by 2006 they had fallen further to 206 with only 15 students enrolled to start year 7 the next year. Meanwhile the suburb had gentrified

Gentrification

Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...

 during the past two decades, but local residents chose not to send their children to the school because of the poor reputation and low academic results.

The buildings were demolished between May and November 2008. Soil contamination (common in the area from the former Gasworks sites) delayed construction of the new buildings, which was originally planned to reopen in 2009. After delays in construction, a new purpose-built school was opened for Year 7 students in 2011, and will eventually expand to house 950 students from years 7 to 12, costing $20 million to build.

Principal

• Founding Principal 2011, Steve Cook (ex-Williamstown High School)