Class of 2023: Tayo Jimoh, Jack Cartlidge (whose parents Nick and Sarah were both students at the school), Max Keech, Ricky Hoog, Ava Warren and Indi Hayton on their first day of school on Monday at Rochy primary.
Twenty-one prep students arrived for their first day of school at Rochester Primary School on Monday oblivious to the turmoil their teachers had been presented with in the week before the start of the new school year.
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School principal Kate Whitford said the keys to the buildings, a series of portables that had been relocated from the temporary Elmore site during the school holidays, were only handed over to the school six days earlier.
“We lost a day because of the public holiday and there are still container loads of equipment that haven’t been unloaded,” she said.
Mrs Whitford, operating from an almost empty office in the makeshift administration portable, said she felt for the staff, but starting the school year any later was not practical.
“It wouldn’t have been fair to the students and the community. We would also have had to declare a pupil free day and we only get four of those,” she said.
The portable buildings are situated on the back portion of the school oval as contractors continue the re-construction of the flood-affected classrooms that have been abandoned since October last year.
Mrs Whitford had a laptop computer sitting on her desk and little else in the room as staff had frantically accessed equipment from two of the eight shipping containers to set up the classrooms.
Welcome to 2023: Rochester Primary School prep students Grace Fitzgerald and Maya Mangan on the steps of the portable buildings, which are home to the 172 students and 24 staff who were on site for day one on Monday.
Three amigos: Freddie East, Flynn Coghill and Nate Speirs have been inseparable since pre-school and were all members of Deb Wright’s prep class at Rochester Primary School on Monday.
“I feel for the staff, we only got keys last Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday was spent moving furniture,” she said.
“There are still a lot of the containers we haven’t touched.
“The rooms are how they would be normally at end of a school year, not the start.
“We still have a lot of stuff to remove from boxes and the staff room filled with unpacked items.”
Works on the main areas of the school continue behind large fences, but contractors have opened two playgrounds to ensure students have recess and lunch time entertainment.
There are 172 students and 24 staff at Rochester Primary School for the new school year.
Mrs Whitford said she remained well aware of the impact of last October’s floods and how life for many of her students was far from normal.
As a result the school is using its own funds, at this point, to employ a social worker once a week.
“At the moment the school is paying for it, but we are hoping for support from the department,” she said.
While not advertising for a “white knight’’, Mrs Whitfort said funding for the social worker could come from any source.
The school’s wellbeing officer, Lisa Ross, is our also taking a lead role in working with the students and school community to ensure the difficult out-of-school nature of many people’s living conditions does not impact on the learning environment.
Mrs Whitford said at the end of last year, when the school was travelling to Bendigo before eventually landing at Elmore Primary School, the education department had provided support.
She said “close to everything” was working at the school and prep class teachers Joe Ireland and Deb Wright were more than ready for their “new arrivals”.
“The kids seem to be handling everything pretty well.”
