Campaign · Queensland
Open Our School Grounds
Queensland has thousands of school ovals, playgrounds, courts and other outdoor spaces that sit largely unused outside school hours, while many communities lack accessible places for children to play, be active and connect. Children need regular opportunities for outdoor play, independence, movement, exploration and connection with their community — and school grounds are already established, local spaces that could help provide this. We are asking the Queensland Government to explore opening appropriate State School grounds to their local communities outside school hours, with clear guidelines and appropriate safeguards — learning from approaches already operating or being developed in other Australian jurisdictions.
The evidence
What other states in Australia are doing
Queensland isn't starting from scratch. Across Australia, governments, schools and children's advocates are already finding ways to make school grounds available outside school hours. Select a state to explore the evidence.
Already have access to school grounds outside hours
Jurisdictions with established, publicly communicated arrangements for community use of school grounds.
- Government program
NSW — Share Our Space
NSW has a statewide Share Our Space program that allows local communities to access participating school playgrounds, sports fields and multipurpose courts during school terms and holidays.
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- Research report
Victoria — Getting More from School Grounds
In 2024, Infrastructure Victoria investigated how government school grounds could be used more effectively to provide places for play and exercise outside school hours.
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- ACT Education Directorate policy
ACT — Community Use of School Facilities
The ACT has a formal policy requiring public school facilities to be made available for community use when they are not being used by the school.
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Actively expanding / implementing community access
Jurisdictions with programs underway or commitments to open more school facilities to their communities.
- Government initiative
Tasmania — Taroona Primary School
An example of a Tasmanian school making its facilities available to the wider community outside school hours.
Read More → - Government initiative
Tasmania — Opening School Gates
The Tasmanian Government is continuing to open school gates to give communities and sporting groups greater access to school ovals and sports courts outside school hours.
Read More → - Government initiative
Tasmania — More Community Access
The Tasmanian Government has committed to making school playgrounds, ovals and indoor and outdoor sports courts more accessible to local communities outside school hours.
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- Government program
Western Australia — Community Use of School Facilities
Western Australia has a formal Community Use of School Facilities program that enables schools to make their facilities available for community use outside normal school hours.
Read More → - Government program
Western Australia — Community Access Discussed in Parliament
Community use of school facilities is also being considered and discussed at the Western Australian parliamentary level. This Hansard record provides further evidence of the discussion around making school facilities available to communities.
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Advocating for change
Jurisdictions where advocates and statutory bodies are calling for greater community access.
- Commissioner for Children and Young People Position Brief
South Australia — Community Use of School Grounds
The South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People has published a Position Brief supporting greater public use of school grounds outside school hours.
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Not strong enough evidence yet
Jurisdictions where we have not yet found enough published material to categorise.
We have not yet found enough published material to confidently categorise the Northern Territory. If you know of a Northern Territory policy, program or school arrangement, we'd like to hear about it.
Queensland
Your campaign is pushing for change.
- Campaign action
Queensland — E-petition
A Queensland Parliament e-petition is open, calling for clear and consistent out-of-hours community access to Queensland school grounds.
Read More → - Comparison
Queensland — Compared with Share Our Space
NSW's Share Our Space program shows what a statewide, publicly communicated approach can look like. Queensland currently has no equivalent statewide arrangement, so access varies school by school.
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Global picture
What other countries are doing
Coming soon
Queensland doesn't have to reinvent the wheel.
Other Australian jurisdictions are already using, developing or investigating different ways to make school facilities available to their communities.
We're asking Queensland to look at what is working elsewhere and consider what could work here.