Since the October flood event students and teachers have spent time learning at a Bendigo secondary college, at an Elmore Primary School temporary base and then from a series of portables on the back corner of the Hodgens oval at the Rochester school.
On Wednesday the students will be back in the classrooms they left in mid-October last year after the school was abandoned due to a flood alert being issued for the town.
It was all hands on deck on Friday for a three-hour period and then on Monday as the school’s executive used the Anzac Day weekend to further advance its preparations for a return to classroom learning.
“We did some work from 1pm-4pm on Friday and were at the school all day Monday,“ Rochester Primary School principal Kate Whitford said.
The teachers were assisted in the clean-up and movement of furniture by contractors still on-site, completing the final preparations to the “like new’’ school.
Much of the furniture was saved from the flood water, but the interior of the buildings are brand new.
New floor coverings and, in some instances, new layouts will greet the students as the principal was allowed to advise on any interior restructure during the re-fit of the school.
“We still have furniture to come and the ceilings need to be painted, but will plan to open the doors to the community on Thursday from 3.30pm to 5pm for people to have a walk-through,” she said.
Mrs Whitford had seen much of the school before her staff, who were thrilled with the outcome of the refurbishment.
“We are all wrapped with how it has come up. We have made some internal changes which will make for a better operation.
“Among those is making the staff room bigger and better,” she said.
“And the library is my favourite room. We will now use it for our assemblies,” she said.
Another project which was held up by the flood was the new toilet block, which will also be operational from day one of the new term.
"It will be business as usual on Wednesday,“ Mrs Whitford said.
