The Urquhart Park Primary School name has been replaced with Newington Primary School to better connect with the local community.

The school uniform has remained the same, but the school logo has changed.

"People really understand why we set out to change the name of the school because it's all about connecting with our community and it's been received very positively," said principal Janet Hillgrove.

"Just before everybody came back we had our signs changed so we are in the process of changing everything over which takes a little while."

The school welcomed 45 new foundation pupils who started school on Monday as part of a total school population of 323.

The school's new name was first mooted in July 2019 when parents received a letter proposing the name change.

"At the time Newington was not a well recognised suburb and was not considered as a name for the school. School council believe that with the ongoing growth in our community of Newington and within our school that it's now time to consider that change," school council wrote to parents at the time.

"As the Ballarat community has grown, the suburb of Newington has developed and become a well recognised location. Newington is a growing and engaged community and it's where our school is located."

In 1982, Urquhart Primary School moved from Urquhart Street to its present site in Inkerman Street, Newington, and the school name changed to Urquhart Park Primary School to reflect its new location opposite Victoria Park.

The school, and the street it was on, was named after William Swan Urquhart, a surveyor who planned the layout of Ballarat as we know it today.

Ms Hillgrove said the new school logo encapsulated the values of the school - inspire, inquire, grow.

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"Because we are an international baccalaureate school we are very much in to inquiry learning and really engaging our children in curriculum that's relevant and challenging," she said.

"We talk about inspiring our children to learn, then the children engage in that inquiry which helps them to grow in so many ways - academic, emotional and social."

Newington Primary will officially mark their new name with a smoking ceremony on Friday.

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