The Local Schools Working Together Pilot Program
The Local Schools Working Together (LSWT) pilot program (the Program) is an important element of the Australian Government’s Education Revolution.
The aim of the Program is to encourage government, Catholic and independent schools to work together to develop shared educational facilities which will broaden the benefit of government expenditure on capital infrastructure. Shared facilities will create new opportunities for students who might otherwise be denied access to the range of facilities enjoyed at better resourced schools. The theme of the LSWT program is ‘schools in partnership to achieve educational excellence and equity’.
The partnership theme may also extend to third parties such as local councils or businesses where the projects may feature broader community benefit. Projects involving community partnerships should maintain a primary focus on improved educational outcomes.
Funding of $62.5 million was made available over two funding rounds towards the construction of 26 shared educational facilities nationwide.
The outcomes of the program are due to be reviewed. This evaluation will consider:
- the nature and effectiveness of the partnership formed between schools or between school and community partners;
- the extended curriculum options and the number of students able to benefit from the shared facilities;
- the number of community members (when applicable) and the types of activities made possible by the shared facilities; and
- the variety and characteristics of innovative funding models identified.
The Hon Julia Gillard MP, the then Minister for Education, announced results of Round One on 2 February 2009 and Round Two on 12 November 2009. A list of all successful projects is available below:
The Local Schools Working Together (LSWT) Information paper offers examples of better practice projects involving resource sharing in Australian and International schools. The information paper is available below:
The LSWT Guidelines contains detailed information relating to the program and outlines arrangements for the ongoing administrative and delivery of the program. Guidelines for both rounds of the pilot program are available below:
Round One Program Guidelines (
PDF 321KB | 
RTF 6.47MB)
Round Two Program Guidelines ( PDF 269 KB | RTF 2.47MB)
Contact us
If you would like to make an enquiry regarding the program, please email.