St Gabriel's Primary School Reservoir
Meet our Principal
We are excited to introduce Laura Merrick, our Lead Principal.
My name is Laura Merrick and I am proud to be the Principal of St Gabriel’s. I am honoured to lead such a passionate and dedicated team of educators in this vibrant community of learners. At St Gabriel’s, we believe that education is a shared journey. We honour parents as the primary educators of your children, and we see our role as partners—working alongside you to nurture and grow your child’s spiritual, academic, and emotional wellbeing.
At St Gabriel’s, we believe that learning should be fun and joyful with moments of genuine wonder. Teaching and learning is designed to spark a genuine sense of curiosity that transforms learning from a task into a lifelong passion. By fostering this curiosity early on, we empower our children to see themselves as capable, confident learners. We strive to inspire active, energised learners who don’t just observe the world, but engage with it—driven by passion and guided by purpose.
We have a genuine, strong, inclusive spirit that binds us together. At St Gabriel’s, our rich and diverse community is our strength and connection is our priority. When you become a part of our school community, we hope you feel welcomed into a space defined by warmth, equity, and a genuine sense of belonging.
Our story and our formation lay upon the richness of Reservoir. Reservoir sits upon Wurundjeri country, which covers most of the area now known as greater Melbourne and includes the City of Darebin.
The family group most likely to have lived on the land now known as the City of Darebin is the Wurundjeri Willam clan, whose Ngurungaeta was Billebillary. This land may have also been used by the Bebejan family group, as they were based around the Heidelberg area.
Water is a significant symbol within our history and symbolic within our schools. In 1864 the reservoir which would later provide inspiration for the suburb's name was built on the Yan Yean pipeline which carried water into Melbourne. 2 others were built in 1909 and 1913.
Our History
St Gabriel's Catholic Primary School is located at 237 Spring Street, Reservoir, within the partnered Parishes of St Gabriel’s Reservoir and St Stephen of Hungary East Reservoir.
St. Gabriel’s Primary School in Reservoir, Victoria, was established in 1927 by Fr. James O'Grady and the parishioners. It was officially opened in 1929 and in 1930 the Good Samaritan Sisters moved into the parish and took charge of the school, educating the community for decades. In 1972, the first lay principal was appointed. Over the years the Good Samaritan Sisters, supported by lay staff and the parishioners, have proudly continued the work of educating the children of St Gabriel's Parish.
In October 2020, St Gabriel’s and St Stephen’s became Two schools, One Heart under a lead principal. During this time the schools worked together to ensure that the children of both schools had rich and engaging learning experiences. Over the years, the educators worked together in their professional learning, planning and design of curriculum. The children had opportunities across the school year to come together for swimming, excursions, sports days and whole school community events.
In March of 2024, after 3 years of close partnership between St Gabriel’s and St Stephen’s Primary School, the St Stephen's Primary School community joined us here at St Gabriel’s. The children and families were welcomed into a very familiar school setting and friendships and relationships grew quickly from a solid foundation.
Reservoir is known for strengths - strengths of identity, tradition, welcome, diversity, open hearted, abundance of produce and pride. These strengths weave through ‘our place’ - our place of reservoir.