How Fitzroy North became the city's most competitive school catchment – and what parents are doing about it

Primary school selection in Fitzroy North has become a neighbourhood bloodsport. Parents camp in school offices months before enrolment deadlines. Real estate agents now advertise properties with a single selling point: proximity to Fitzroy North Primary or the slightly more spacious Collingwood Primary catchment two blocks over. The waiting lists at the zone's desirable schools stretch past 100 families each winter.

This wasn't the case five years ago. The shift reflects a broader reshaping of how Melbourne families navigate schooling in expensive inner suburbs. Catchment zones that once offered straightforward access now function like lottery systems, with properties commanding premium prices based on which school fence they sit behind. Parents who can't secure their preferred public school increasingly turn to private alternatives or relocate entirely to outer suburbs where schools have room to breathe.

Walk down St Georges Road on a Tuesday afternoon and the evidence is plain. Fitzroy North Primary, the suburb's flagship government school, sits on a modest 1.8-hectare site hemmed in by Victorian terraces. The school serves 650 students—at capacity—and operates five separate portable classrooms to manage the overflow. Down the road at Collingwood Primary on Peel Street, the situation mirrors itself: 580 students, three portables, and a principal who spent much of 2025 managing enrolment applications rather than curriculum design.

When supply meets demand in inner Melbourne

The North Yarra Learning Group, which manages six government schools across the area including both Fitzroy North and Collingwood, acknowledged the pressure last term in their annual report. Enrolment growth in the 3065 postcode has outpaced new school infrastructure. Property values in the catchment have spiked accordingly. A three-bedroom terrace in the Fitzroy North Primary zone now typically sells for $1.28 million—roughly $180,000 more than identical properties one street outside the boundary.

The practical consequence: middle-income families who worked their way into these suburbs during the last decade now find their own children locked out of the local school system. One parent of two children told The Age this week that their application to Fitzroy North Primary was rejected for their younger daughter, despite living 400 metres from the school gates. Their older son had secured a place four years earlier. The family is now investigating Catholic school options at Assumption Primary in Alphington, a seven-kilometre drive.

Department of Education Victoria data released in February showed that across greater Melbourne, public primary school waiting lists have grown by 34 per cent since 2020. Inner suburbs account for roughly 60 per cent of that increase. The department opened exactly one new primary school in metropolitan Melbourne between 2022 and 2024—Wollert Primary in the outer northern suburbs, nowhere near the demand hotspots.

The workaround economy

Facing these constraints, Fitzroy North and Collingwood parents have developed creative responses. Some enrol children at nearby independent schools—Lauriston Girls School and Trinity Grammar both report increased enrolments from families in the immediate postcode. Others game the system through appeals, requesting approval for siblings or submitting applications under alternative addresses held by relatives.

The Yarra Ranges Learning Support Network, which assists families navigating school selection in northern inner Melbourne, processed 247 cases last year involving parents seeking enrolment outside their catchment. That figure was 89 five years ago. The network's director confirmed via email that demand for support has strained resources, with some families waiting six weeks for initial consultation.

The state government has flagged a new primary school in Fitzroy as part of their Victorian Infrastructure Pipeline, though no start date has been announced and previous timelines have slipped. In the meantime, families continue purchasing properties based on school postcodes, accepting portables as permanent fixtures, and exploring alternatives their parents' generation never needed. The neighbourhood's transformation is real, visible, and no closer to resolution.