Carlton Gardens Primary School (number 2605) is a historic state school in inner Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located at 215 Rathdowne Street, Carlton, Victoria

Carlton, Victoria

Carlton is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...

, between Grattan and Pelham streets, overlooking the Carlton Gardens. (Google map reference).

It is the closest school to Melbourne's CBD, and is also near the Melbourne Museum

Melbourne Museum

Melbourne Museum is located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, adjacent the Royal Exhibition Building.It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere, and is a venue of Museum Victoria, which also operates the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum.The museum has seven main...

, RMIT

RMIT University

RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....

 and the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

, with which the school has historic links.

Working With The Melbourne City Council

Carlton Gardens Primary School has worked very well with the Melbourne City Council, notably with its excellent friendship with former Lord Mayor John So

John So

John Chun Sai So JP is a Chinese-Australian businessman who served as the 102nd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city's history to be directly elected by the people; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the Councillors.First elected...

.

History

Opened in 1884, Carlton Gardens Primary School has operated continuously since that time, though it was briefly used as a hospital during the 1919 flu epidemic. During its history the school has been alternatively known as Rathdowne Street Primary School and Carlton Primary School. It was built in one of the first subdivisions of land outside central Melbourne. The grounds were bought by the Education Department from landowner Thomas O'Grady in 1869 and described at the time as "one of the best, if not the best in Carlton".

Facilities

The school recently renovated its playground facilities, and in 1999 conducted a full-scale renovation of the campus building. It recently installed a Rain Garden (funded by Melbourne Water).

School Size

The school is relatively small by modern standards, housing 160 students in one large building within a single campus. However at various times it has housed up to 1000 students.