About Us

PGR was formed some years ago by parents in the St Kilda/Elwood area of Melbourne who were dismayed by the savage funding cuts to public schools that were instituted initially in Victoria by Premier Jeff Kennett and subsequently nationally by Prime Minister John Howard.

While both of these governments are no longer in power, the public school funding situation is still grave so we remain active on a number of fronts.

Fundraising & Community Events

PGR initially had primarily a fund-raising role, hosting a number of community events – a musical extravaganza at the Espy Hotel with countless musicians and comedians performing, the launch of the video of this event (See Below For Video Link To Watch On-Line), an art auction, a concert for kinder kids - PGR’s Little Kid’s Big Day Out, and several community days at Luna Park.

Promoting The Arts To promote the arts we instigated “Playgrounds” a youth performance project involving local secondary school students in the development of a play about starting high school, for which we received sponsorship grants. The final performance was staged at Gasworks theatre for local upper primary school students, as well as at the WICKED children’s festival We also sponsored a graphic designer to take classes in the local secondary school, and held a postcard design competition for students. Public Education Advocacy As part of our public education advocacy role we held a Secondary Public School Expo called “Public By Choice” at Gasworks Arts Park, where 15 inner metropolitan public secondary schools held information stalls, while secondary students performed, and public figures talked on panels about the benefits of public education. We have also published letters in national newspapers signed by hundreds of prominent Australians and submitted a petition to the federal government protesting at the inequitable funding for public schools (which contributed to the subsequent abolition of the Enrolment Benchmark Adjustment).  We have produced and circulated postcards with public education messages via Avantcard as well as the postcard designed by Academy Award-winning animator Bruce Petty (displayed on the ARTICLES page)

Currently

In the last few years we have concentrated on promoting public education locally. We set up our website with the assistance of students from Melbourne University initially, then subsequently with students from Swinburne University and a student from Holmesglen Tafe and from RMIT.

We have also conducted parent surveys for local schools regarding school curriculum and school preferences, and worked locally with community organizations to promote local public schools.

We are now one of the groups working under the banner of

Our Children Our Schools (Ocos). 

Other OCOS members include:

• Beaumaris School Community Group (BSCG)
• A new school for Bannockburn District
• High School for Coburg (HSC)
• Doreen and Mernda Secondary School Alliance
• Friends of Elwood College
• Friends of Kyneton Education (FoKE)
• Nunawading Primary School Site Preservation Group Inc
• Oakleigh Ward Local Secondary School (OWLSS)
• High School for Preston
• Point Cook Action Group
• Reopen Our Schools (Banyule City)
• Richmond High School Choices (RHSC)
• Secondary Education for Seddon, Kingsville and Yarraville (SKY High)
• Restore Strathmore Heights’ School Zones
• TwoSchoolsNow (Port Phillip and Southbank)
• Fishermans Bend Network
• Northern Mallee School Council Presidents Group
• Docklands Community Forum
• Keysborough South Action Group
• Save Former Calder Rise Primary School
• Ballert Mooroop Working Group (Glenroy)
• Williams Landing Community & Residents
• North Melbourne Primary School Parents and Carers
• Your Cheltenham School
• City Schools 4 City Kids – Melbourne
• School for Prahran
• Spectrum School
• A Bridge Too Close – to Strathmore Secondary College