Heywood Consolidated School (School No. 6225)

Full description

Heywood Consolidated School (School No. 6225) (VA 5369) is a co-educational primary school located just outside the town of Heywood, in the Glenelg region of South-Western Victoria. It was first established in 1951 as part the government's consolidation policy for rural schools which saw the closure and consolidation of a number of primary schools in the region. 

Discussions about merging state schools in the area began from 1944, when it was represented by parents to the Minister of Public Instruction that students would benefit from communal facilities such as libraries, art rooms, cafeterias, and sports facilities, that would otherwise not be available at small, often single-teacher, rural schools. This discussion included existing schools at Condah, Heywood, Heathmere, Myamyn, Drumborg and Homerton.

In 1951, the official process of consolidation began, with schools progressively closing and students moving to the Heywood State School (School No. 297) site to join the newly established Heywood Consolidated School. Alongside Heywood State School, the schools that closed included Condah State School (School No. 1019), Drumborg State School (School No. 1240), Hotspur State School (School No. 1260) (VA 5440), Mount Eckersley State School (School No. 1720) (VA 5402) and Myamyn State School (School No. 1692).

In March 1951, approximately 80 students from Hotspur, Drumborg and Mount Eckersley were temporarily accommodated at Buffalo Hall, a building leased for teaching on Owen St, Heywood, until April when the Hotspur and Drumborg school buildings were placed on the Heywood site. They were followed by the buildings from Mount Eckersley, Condah and Myamyn in May.

The Heywood school was officially classified as a consolidated school on 11th May 1951, at which time the school number 297 was retired. Further research is required to determine when Heywood Consolidated School was assigned the school number 6225, but it was in use in Government publications from at least 1980. 

In 1954, six additional classrooms were built on the site.

In 1955 Homerton State School (School No. 1400) (VA 5438) and Heathmere State School (School No. 4526) (VA 5437) were also slated to close and merge with Heywood Consolidate School. Heathmere State School officially closed on 29th April 1955 and Homerton State School on 22nd June 1955. While it was thought to move the Homerton school building to the Heywood site, it was eventually deemed too old and instead became used as a community hall. In 1956 suggestions were made to remove buildings from the closed Heathmere & Homerton schools to Heywood for conversion to a domestic arts wing, but new buildings for this purpose were erected instead.

In 1962, Heywood and District Secondary School (School No. 7910; previously known as Heywood High School) opened using temporary classrooms on the Heywood Consolidated School site, before moving to its present location on Gorrie St, Heywood in 1963.