Northcote Primary School is a primary school in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, 6 kilometers from the city centre. The school was first established in 1874, and has been proudly serving its community for over 125 years. The school faces onto Helen Street, a one-way street, accounting for the school being more commonly known as Helen Street Primary School, and sits behind, and runs parallel with, the busy High Street shopping strip, cafe and wine bar area.
Most of the 240 students enrolled live in the areas of Northcote and Thornbury, with some students travelling from the suburbs of Fitzroy, Abbotsford, Alphington, Fairfield, Preston, Brunswick, Coburg and outer suburbs of Heidelberg Heights, Thomastown, Epping and Lalor. Northcote Primary has a low percentage of parents receiving Educational Maintenance Allowance and a low percentage of students from a Language Other Than English background.
A number of notable persons are former students of this school. These include murdered solicitor Keith William Allan and late parliamentarians Alan Bird, Don Chipp[1] and Frank Courtnay. Another notable former student was Keith Smith, an Australian broadcaster, radio and television personality, and writer. Smith's most popular television program was "The Pied Piper."[2]