Almost a century in Caulfield South

It’s safe to say that, over the years, Caulfield South Primary School has become a landmark of the suburb.

‘Our main school building is about 98 years old,’ Rohan says. ‘So we have a really long history here.’

Just under 500 students attend the school. Some walk in from the surrounding streets. Others arrive by bike or scooter, helped by the paths through Marara Road Reserve behind the school.

It’s a setting Rohan talks about with real affection.

‘We’re lucky to have that beautiful green park for our kids to walk through,’ he says.

Princes Park is nearby, too, while the school also uses Caulfield Park for athletics events. And being nestled in a residential street, Rohan sees the school as part of its neighbourhood’s furniture.

‘We do feel like we’re central to this community.’

After almost 100 years, central is an understatement. There are generations of Caulfield South families with memories tied to this place.

And every now and then, some of them come back.

 

 

The connections that start here

Not long ago, Rohan received a slightly unusual request from a former student.

‘She reached out to me to ask if she could use the site for her wedding photos,’ he says.

There was a very good reason she wanted to return.

‘She was marrying someone from her Year 6 cohort!’

Of all the ways to demonstrate that primary school connections can stick, that’s a fairly convincing one.

Then there was the group of former students who contacted Rohan as they prepared to celebrate 50 years since their primary school graduation. About 12 to 15 of them came back on a Sunday, and Rohan came in to take them through the school.

For him, stories like these make sense.

‘Schools can be the hub of the community because it’s where families gather,’ he explains. ‘It’s where you make lifelong friends.’

Rohan knows that from his own life. He still has friends from primary school, and his parents remain connected to the families he went to school with.

These days, he watches the same thing continue to happen from the other side of the desk.

 

 

It takes a village – and this one gets involved

Of course, those relationships don’t simply appear.

‘You have to work hard at it,’ Rohan says. ‘It doesn’t come automatically, and you can’t take it for granted.’

At CSPS, families do plenty of that building.

Parents come into classrooms to help with reading. They join excursions. They sit on School Council. They find sponsors, run fundraisers and work the barbecues. The Parents’ Association helped raise around $80,000 towards a new playground and more than $100,000 for shade sails.

Then there’s the school’s annual fundraiser.

‘It alternates between a colour run and a walkathon each year,’ Rohan explains. ‘Parents get involved long before the event itself, helping with the planning, pitching in on the day and raising money for the school along the way.’

But some of Rohan’s favourite moments are much simpler.

At the beginning and end of the year, the school holds community picnics on the oval.

‘We bring in food trucks, and families sit out on the grass with a picnic blanket,’ he says. ‘Those days are so important to our community. We look forward to them every year.’

 

 

Looking beyond the fence

That common theme of partnership extends outside the school, too.

Local sporting groups use the school grounds. Other groups come in to teach chess and music. Nearby businesses support school fundraisers, while Hendrick’s Burgers and Salads, just down the road, handles lunch orders.

And the students are encouraged to look even further outward, as well. Recently, the Junior School Council collected winter clothing for a local charity supporting people doing it tough.

‘I think it’s important for our students to have a bit of a global perspective,’ Rohan says. ‘To look outside of their own family and school, and see what’s going on around them.’

For Rohan, that’s part of what a neighbourhood school should do: welcome the community in, while teaching its students to see the community beyond themselves.

 

A face we know well

There’s one CSPS parent we at Gary Peer happen to know particularly well.

And if you’ve passed the school recently, you may have even spotted his smiling face out the front – in person, or on that massive sign on the fence.

Ask Rohan about Leon Gouzenfiter, and the answer comes quickly.

‘Leon is fantastic, a great advocate and supporter for the school.’

But Rohan doesn’t talk about Leon for long before the conversation becomes about the whole Gouzenfiter family. Of which, it’s safe to say, he’s fond.

Leon’s wife, Jess, seems to have a habit of being around whenever something needs doing.

‘If there’s someone finishing up at the end of the night, helping to empty a bin or pack things away, chances are it’ll be Jess,’ Rohan says.

It’s not exactly the glamorous side of school involvement. Which might be why those moments say so much.

‘They’re exactly the family that you want at a school like this,’ he says. ‘They contribute in any way they can.’

 

 

A school shaped by its suburb

Spend enough time talking about the school, and eventually the conversation becomes one about Caulfield South itself.

For Rohan, separating the two isn’t easy.

‘I feel like it’s a place where people want to live,’ he says.

He sees children riding through Marara Road Reserve with their friends. Families walking through the neighbourhood. People who have lived here for years choosing to stay. And he sees new families wanting to become part of it.

‘We run school tours every week, they’re always very popular,’ he says. ‘People want to move into the school zone.’

Rohan believes families are drawn to the sense of safety and familiarity here. But again, he comes back to the relationship between people.

‘I think they see a school that cares about the community and a community that cares about the school,’ he says. ‘It’s a positive two-way relationship.’

 

100 years young

As CSPS approaches its centenary, that two-way relationship is entering a new chapter.

A major redevelopment will bring a new basketball gymnasium, library and performing arts room to the school. But Rohan emphasises their impact will extend well beyond the school day.

‘The space will be used by the school, but also by the community outside of school hours too,’ he says.

‘I really hope our school can be utilised by the community, as a learning facility first and foremost, but beyond that too. For people to meet, for sports to take place, things like that.’

It feels fitting for a school approaching its 100th year in the same neighbourhood.

New spaces. New students. New families. But the same idea has kept appearing throughout our conversation with Rohan.

‘I hope when you think about the suburb of Caulfield South, you think about Caulfield South Primary School,’ he says. ‘It should go hand in hand.’

 

 

Want to learn more about CSPS? Visit the school’s website to discover more about its community and programs.