Portarlington Primary School has proudly educated the children of Portarlington and its surrounds for over one-hundred and fifty years.  

First opening its doors on the 20th of October, 1873 the school was situated in the Wesleyan Church with seventy-three pupils under Thomas Brown.  Following a difference with the church authorities in 1876, the school moved to the Temperance Hall.  The State owned building, approved in 1878 and completed, at a cost of £778, on the 1st of May 1881.  The school was officially opened by Dr A. McLeod, President of the Bellarine Shire.  The building, still sitting in the grounds of the school, was designed by Education Department architect, Henry Bastow, and is a typical example of school architecture of the period, although it is distinctive for its use of local bricks and the unusual decorative design of the brickwork.  These local bricks were made at the Portarlington Tile and Brick Works located at the former Portarlington Mill. 

The building, now affectionately known as ‘The Heritage Building’, was built in a Victorian Gothic style.  The building originally had a slate covered roof, a small bell tower with a spire, and a set of attic windows, which are now all removed.  The building is listed as a site of local cultural significance, retaining a heritage overlay.

For many years, Portarlington Primary School was the largest primary school on the Bellarine Peninsula and an important educational and social centre for the township and surrounding rural area.  School enrolments had fluctuated over the years and in 1921, numbers had increased so much that the school was raised to the status of Higher Elementary School, but lost the secondary section in 1932, when attendance fell during the Depression.

In 2016 the school was earmarked for a new build with Minister for Education, James Merlino and Member for Bellarine, Lisa Neville turning the first sod to start construction.  The $5.7 million project saw several learning spaces, a Global Learning space and a Da Vinci Studio with an adjoining kitchen built along the Newcombe Street fenceline.  A suspended boardwalk from Newcombe Street to the entrance of the school and nautical-inspired elements like a curved canopy with blue glass portholes ensured the building honoured the local surroundings and  Portarlington’s history.  These new building works also saw extensive landscaping of the grounds, including a new play oval, and a refurbishment of the historic building.  The school community occupied the new school facilities in 2018.

In 2023, Portarlington Primary School celebrated its 150-year birthday with festivities that brought past and present school community members together.  Portarlington Primary School’s oldest living pupil, 99-year-old Mavis Willey, was present for the celebrations.  Ms Willey reflected on her children, as well as some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who had attended the school.  She was joined by her great-great-granddaughter, Sadie who was in Grade Five at Portarlington Primary School in 2023.  

Portarlington Primary School continues to proudly provide the local community with exceptional educational opportunities, as the town’s only local school.