Rochester primary schoolers will be back in familiar surrounds for the first day of term two on April 26.
Since the events of mid-October last year the primary school population has been pushed from pillar to post in a bid to ensure as normal a continuation of their education as possible.
For a period of time the students and teachers were bused from Rochester to a Bendigo site, before being based out of portable buildings on the grounds of Elmore Primary School to end the 2022 school year.
This year the school has operated for the entirety of term one from those same portable buildings in the back corner of the school oval — contractors relocating the buildings from Elmore to Rochester during the Christmas and New Year break.
School principal Kate Whitford said teachers would be given the advantage of having a curriculum day on April 24 (Monday) and with a public holiday for Anzac Day the following day the school would be back in classrooms on the Wednesday.
Victorian Building Schools Authority was on the Rochester site on Thursday, to inspect works, confirming that the classrooms were on track for a term two re-opening.
School council president Casey James, in her fourth year as the school community leader, said the response from the community to the school had been terrific.
“We have increased our numbers on council, there are now 10 members,” she said.
The twice-a-term meetings of the council has seen a re-focus, very much aimed at the mental health of staff, students and parents.
“We’ve backed off a lot on fundraising. Our aim is to try to maintain communication with families,” she said.
"We have been really focused on the wellbeing of families at the school and we have been encouraging people to reach out when they need support.“
The school has a new format to its newsletter, which is now delivered completely electronically.
“It is more accessible for people this way,” Mrs James said.
The repair of the flood-damaged classrooms, administration area and grounds in general involved a significant amount of work, contractors working on both the primary and secondary schools at the same time.
The school council’s major project of 2022, the upgrade of the toilet block, will also be operational in term two.
"We are lucky that some of the works on the school council list have been done while these flood recovery have been completed,” Mrs James said.
“We had replaced some of the carpet already, but now it has all been replaced.”
Her son Walt is in grade five at the school, while his elder brother Cale is in year eight at the secondary college.
Mrs James said the council was happy to wear a portable building learning scenario for a term if it meant kids were back in Rochester.
"The teachers have been incredible with the kids and tried to keep the normal programs running,“ she said
She said the school was planning to have an open afternoon in the first week or two back at school, continuing the town-wide theme of Recovery and Re-Connection.
“We want to do that a couple of times a year,“ she said.