Forbes Public School literally rolled out the red carpet on the first day of Term 2 to welcome students back into their rebuilt school after two years in demountables.
School captains Charlie Acheson and Leo Dwyer were only in Year 3 when the destructive floods of late 2022 entered their classrooms for the first time in decades.
An entire temporary school was set up on the oval while their classrooms and buildings were stripped out, cleaned and eventually given all new paint and floorings ready for students’ return.
“It feels really good,” Charlie said – and Leo agreed – as they settled back into the school’s permanent classrooms on day one of the term.
The school leaders and the whole school community were part of the relocation: the infrastructure team who did the rebuild working with the staff to let the students walk through at the end of last term.
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All those activities helped students be prepared for the very exciting move
Not only clean, fresh classrooms but the new sports surfaces were a hit with the students.
Longer-term, the move means the demountable school will be able to be removed and the school’s large sports oval restored – and that will be another very exciting day.
Staff literally did roll out the red carpet and welcome their 350 students through the front gate on the first day of term, assistant principal Amber Avis said.
While it was a very exciting day, she acknowledged the move came with mixed emotions for many affected by the flood events at school and at home.
“We’re really fortunate because we have such an amazing staff and such an amazing community: the support that we have is outstanding,” she said.
The school’s own chaplains and counsellors are on hand, with Rob Spence from the Department of Education supporting the school community immediately after the flood but also in this transition.
Teachers have also made themselves available, reaching out to families and connecting students to Boys to the Bush to surround them with support where it’s needed.
In future the school community looks forward to welcoming families in to an open day so the families can see all the refurbished classrooms filled up with brand new class work too.
