From flood to fabulous

IN the space of just 12 months the Patrick Estate State School has nearly doubled in size.

Patrick Estate School students starting back for a new year. . Picture: David Nielsen

IN the space of just 12 months the Patrick Estate State School has nearly doubled in size.

The school, north of Lowood, had 28 students last year.

This year enrolments are at 48.

The jump in size comes only a year after the school was devastated by water during the 2011 flood.

Following the flood last January the Patrick Estate school was without a number of facilities, with water damaging and washing away equipment.

Principal Liz Bailey said over the course of the past year the school had transformed itself from "flooded to fabulous."

"It's been a lovely way to start the year," she said.

"Twelve months ago we were just flooded so this is a much better start to the year."

Ms Bailey said while the past year was tough on the students she was looking forward to the coming semesters.

"Last year we had no playgrounds, no tennis courts or really anywhere for this kids to play.

"We opened up after the floods but it was a tough year."

Ms Bailey said the new year had seen an important change in the school's fortunes.

"This has been a really important start of the school year for us," she said. "It's been quite remarkable to think where we've come from.

"The flood affected us quite badly last year so it's great to have such a good start to this year."

The school now has a number of new facilities and a sea of young, new faces to enjoy them in the coming semester.

Ms Bailey said the school was also looking to make the most of a new statewide curriculum change with the teachers doing extra preparations for the changes to this year's syllabus.

The addition of 20 extra students has been a huge boost for the small school, with other small schools in the region struggling to attract numbers.

Patrick Estate State School is nearly 90 years old, having been operating since 1925 when the school had 23 students.

The original school building was trained from Coominya after being moved from it's original location at Benarkin north of Toogoolawah.

Originally published as From flood to fabulous