Roofs ripped off, trees through classrooms: Race to repair storm-ravaged schools

Nearly 100 Queensland state schools have been damaged amid the state’s dual disasters, with authorities now racing to repair facilities for day one, term one. SEE THE FULL LIST.

Nearly 100 Queensland state schools have been damaged amid the state’s dual disasters, with authorities now racing to repair facilities in time for the first day of school in two weeks.

Two schools on the Gold Coast have been seriously damaged, with a tree crashing into a classroom at Helensvale State School — though Principal James Forrest said the damage could have been far worse.

Education Minister Di Farmer confirmed 96 state schools had been damaged across southeast and far north Queensland.

A total of 35 damaged schools were in the southeast and 61 were in the far north — with the scale of repairs needed varying from simple flood clean-ups to long-term rebuilding of sections of buildings.

Trees down at Helensvale Primary School. Picture: Glenn Hampson

The state government is aiming to have every single school ready for the return of students on January 22, though in some cases classrooms and other facilities will be out of commission.

Ms Farmer said in some cases — like schools in Wynnum and Manly which had its roofs ripped off — demountable classrooms would be brought in as temporary facilities.

She said there was one school in Far North Queensland, which she declined to name, where workers were “racing against the clock” to fix.

Education Minister Di Farmer and Principal James Forrest view the damage at Helensvale State School. Photo: Qld State Government

“At this stage we think every single school will be functional,” Ms Farmer said.

There is no estimate yet on how much repairing the schools will cost, though the state government has promised no state school will be financially hit by the storm damage.

The two schools hit hardest were Helensvale and Coomera State School.

At Coomera a tree damaged a two-space prep building, with a structural report to determine next steps.

Helensvale State School principal Mr Forrest said a member of the school community who lived nearby had tipped him off to potential damage at the facility after the storm, and a walk through provide “fairly extensive” consequences.

Damage at Helensvale State School. Photo: Qld State Government

But the situation could have been far worse he said.

“To be honest, when I saw a lot of the trees that had fallen within the school grounds, we believe that just one building being damaged was actually a bit of a godsend,” Mr Forrest said.

“And one building in particular with one just one room damaged. We got very lucky. There was a lot of other trees that were had fallen down in between buildings, so we could have had significantly further damage.

“This is our 40th year anniversary this year, so that’s going to be a real memorable one for us … it’ll just be a bit of a clunky start but by the end of the first term we’ll be back into normal operations and we’ll be sailing forward.”

Education Minister Di Farmer inspected storm damage at Helensvale State School. Pics Adam Head

The damaged building at Helensvale SS is expected to be unavailable for approximately the first three weeks of the school year, though the government assured the school had sufficient capacity to accommodate all students for the start of school.

Coomera SS also had sufficient capacity to accommodate all students without use of the damaged prep building according to Ms Farmer.