Shared Use of School Facilities

Many Victorian government schools and communities have experienced significant benefits as a result of partnerships based around shared facilities. These partnerships range from hiring out school basketball courts on weekends to schools and communities working together to develop new shared facilities.

Benefits include:

• stronger social networks between schools and communities;
• better availability of sports, arts and other facilities;
• more community involvement in school activities and young people’s learning;
• new and creative learning environments;
• financial savings by sharing costs; and
• improved school security and reduced vandalism.

School facilities can be used by communities in many different ways. Options include:

• opening schools for meeting spaces, recreational and sporting use;
• creating spaces to support school-aged holiday, before- and after-school programs;
• sharing libraries, resource and technology centres, and performing arts spaces; and
• co-locating pre-school centres on school grounds.

The Victorian Government is also encouraging schools to join with community and business organisations in combining their funds and resources to build share facilities such as halls, libraries, performing arts spaces, technology centres, and recreational and children’s centres. Special governance guidelines have been developed to assist in this.

For more information, see:

• Schools as Community Facilities - Policy Framework and Guidelines (PDF - 2.3Mb).
• Shared Facility Partnerships - a Guide to Good Governance for Schools and the Community

 

Various share arrangements

The sharing of facilities between schools and the community entails legal agreements that ensure all parties understand their responsibilities and obligations. School councils are authorised to enter into three standard agreements:

1. Hire Agreements

Hire agreements apply when the community uses a facility on a one-off basis. Examples include a local youth group hiring out a school hall for its annual presentation night, or a local theatre group hiring a hall to stage a play over four nights.

To access the hire agreements template, see Legal Services - Resources for State School Councils

2. Licence Agreements

Licence agreements apply when the community uses a school facility on a regular basis. Examples include a local drama group hiring out the school performing arts centre every Wednesday evening, or a local football club hiring the school oval for the season.

To access the licence agreements template, see Legal Services - Resources for State School Councils

3. Development and Joint Use Agreements

Development and joint use agreements are more detailed arrangements that apply when a school and/or the community contribute to the construction of a new facility or the modernisation of an existing one. An example is the construction of a new sports stadium at a school, funded by both the school and local council, and to be used by both the school and local community sporting groups.

There are two options for managing a facility under a development and joint use agreement:

• Committee of Management: the school council and the community organisation agree to establish a committee of management with representation from all partners.
• Responsible Partner: one partner (for example the school council or local council) takes sole responsibility for managing the facility.

The option chosen will depend on the nature of the arrangement. For a sample of these agreements, see Legal Services - Resources for State School Councils 

When schools plan to enter a development and joint use agreement, they should fill out a Notification of Intention (Word - 29Kb).

For more information, see the ‘Setting up Development and Joint Use Agreements’ section of Schools as Community Facilities: Policy Framework and Guidelines (PDF - 2.3Mb).