Wall collapses at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College

A wall has collapsed at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College, which has for years been seeking urgent upgrades to its ageing buildings.

A student picture of the collapsed wall at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College.

A wall has collapsed at a state high school which has been seeking urgent upgrades to its facilities for years.

A wall in C Block at Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College collapsed just after 9am on Monday, sending bricks and glass crashing onto the floor immediately below and onto a staircase two floors below.

No one was hurt as the collapse occurred during class time, but the school had more than 100 staff and 1000 student on site at the time.

A student mocks her “old” school on social media.

The wall in question was closed off last year amid safety concerns, but was not fenced this year when the students returned to class.

Principal Dr Mary Cannon told parents there is now a “very large exclusion zone in place” which had been reported to authorities.

Although the school is situated in up-market Canterbury, its physical buildings have been in need of up upgrade for some years.

The 2018 My School website reports the school received just $61,200 in federal capital expenditure, $184,000 from the state government and had a total capital accumulated budget of $640,600.

As of 2018, there were no funds allocated to capital projects.

Member for Kew. Tim Smith, said Canterbury Girls Secondary College “had been ignored by successive Labor governments for many years.”

In 2016 Mr Smith told parliament that the school had no substantial investment in its buildings — some of which are now 90 years old — for over 40 years.

“That school requires urgent investment and James Merlino needs to understand the school needs his attention right now,” he said.

The Herald Sun is seeking comment from the Education Department and the school council.

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