School Re-opening

This article written by Michael Wright was published in the Press Newspaper on March 16th 2011.

Pupils will return to Redcliffs School next week after a protective fence is erected. Last month's quake triggered major rockfalls from the cliffs behind the school. The school was working with geotechnical engineers on protective measures, including a fence and shipping containers. Work on the barrier began this week.

Principal Kim Alexander said the school had essential services and the fence was the final hurdle. "We're just working through those issues with the aim that we will reopen next week," she said. "There'll be a few rooms at the back of the school, including the hall, that will be out of use for a few months." Channels known as bunds were dug behind the school after the September 4 quake to capture rocks. Alexander said 80 per cent of the school's buildings would be used. However, the school hall and one classroom block were deemed too close to the cliff to use. She said every class would have its own space in the smaller grounds.

Forty per cent of the school's 390 pupils had enrolled elsewhere, but Alexander was confident most would return."The indication from a lot of the parents is that this is a short-term thing and they will be back once we reopen," she said. "I'm expecting next week that we will certainly have lower numbers, but that will climb rapidly."

The school had organised a drop-in learning centre for pupils at the Redcliffs Anglican Church, with more than 100 children attending on Monday. Michael and Kate Bamford said it would be great to have their four children back at Redcliffs School. Their children, Vaughan, 12, Ida, 10, Judson, 7, and Kent, 5, "don't say much about the quake". "They talk about the cliff. They say `at least we're still alive'." Tony and Sarah Joseph's three children, Mia, 10, Monty, 7, and Caspar, 5, were coping well with the unscheduled holiday. "I think we're all ready for them to go back," Sarah Joseph said. "It'll be good for them to get back to some normality". Both families had made use of the drop-in centre. "It's been really good for them to be able to see their friends," Joseph said.