Dubbo South Public School is cleaned up and new facilities are in place ready to welcome students back this week, after a fire at the end of 2021.
Nationals Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders has visited the school and welcomed the progress made over the holidays to restore the site.
“Thankfully no-one was injured and students were back in class very soon after the fire, and I’m delighted to see the school is now set up and ready to welcome students back for the New Year,” Mr Saunders said.
“Seven demountable classrooms are in place and have been fitted out with furniture ready for Day 1 Term 1 2022. We want to minimise the disruption to students and teachers, so the extra classrooms will be in place while the work continues on site to restore the school infrastructure lost in the fire.
“The demolition of the buildings damaged in the fire has now begun, and we can look forward to a new building being designed and constructed.”
Buildings G, H, I and J at Dubbo South Public School were destroyed by a fire on December 2, 2021. The site was made safe immediately and by December 6 the school was able to reopen.
Currently, the damaged area is being cleared and once that is complete, a structural engineer will undertake a site assessment before design work gets underway for a new building to replace the lost classrooms.
“It’s important we restore the infrastructure at Dubbo South Public School to the very highest standards, and I look forward to seeing the progress on the site and the designs for the new building as they are developed,” Mr Saunders said.
Nationals Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the NSW Nationals in the state government will deliver the new building block for the school.
“The NSW Government is committed to public school students all over the state having the very best learning environments and that includes maintaining and replacing infrastructure when it is unfortunately lost, like in this case,” Mrs Mitchell said.
The NSW Government is investing $7.9 billion over the next four years, continuing its program to deliver 215 new and upgraded schools to support communities across NSW. This is the largest investment in public education infrastructure in the history of NSW.
