Department of Education responds to Hervey Bay State High ‘Scool’ sign

Queensland’s education department has responded after a new state government-funded welcome sign bearing an ironic typo was installed on a school fence.

The 'Hervey Bay State High Scool' sign has since been replaced.

Queensland’s Department of Education has been asked how an official new welcome sign with a glaring spelling error ended up being installed outside a major high school.

It is understood the sign, which read “Hervey Bay State High Scool” instead of School, was installed on the fence of the Pialba campus on Friday, March 7, as part of the state government’s new school signage rollout.

A photo showing the error on full display quickly circulated on social media, where users couldn’t help but point out the irony.

The general sentiment was that while anyone could be forgiven for human error when designing the sign, the fact that it not only made it past checks but also ended up bolted on to the school fence was puzzling.

This publication asked the Department of Education whether any of the school’s staff had been involved in viewing and/or approving the sign, if they were present when it was installed or if it was done by a contractor.

It also asked how long the sign was in place, how school authorities were alerted to the mistake and what action had been taken to ensure similar mistakes didn’t happen in the future.

In its response a spokesman simply said: “The Department of Education understands the importance of ensuring accuracy in school signage.”

A new sign with the correct spelling was installed on Tuesday.

Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek had a light-hearted dig in response.

“While it is disappointing, this is a result of human error, and the sign has been rectified at no additional cost to taxpayers,” Mr Langbroek said.

“We are making sure schools refocus on the basics such as maths and English, but in this case, I’ll have to give the external contractor an ‘F’ for spelling.”

Originally published as Department of Education responds to Hervey Bay State High ‘Scool’ sign