Investigation into the future of Wee Waa High School – new site remains an option

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has confirmed that investigations into the future of Wee Waa High School are continuing.

Mrs Mitchell said she was conscious of the importance of giving certainty to the community about the future of high school education in Wee Waa as quickly as possible.

Testing was ongoing to establish the causes of health issues which had forced the closure of Wee Waa High last year.

High school students were moved to the primary school campus last year after health issues were identified at the high school site.

“Testing has continued over the school holidays,” Mrs Mitchell said in an interview on ABC radio.

“The latest results revealed that testing of bore water hasn’t revealed any causative factors for health issues.

“One of the theories being tested was that the issues may have had something to do with the clay in the soil, and that work is underway.”

Meanwhile first term for Wee Waa High School will begin at the Wee Waa Primary School.

“We have been bringing extra demountables on site at the primary school for the first day of term one to allow extra specialist teaching facilities like woodwork and metalwork and hospitality so no curriculum offerings will be unavailable to students,” said Mrs Mitchell.

“We are also actively looking at the possibility of developing a new school on a new site if we need to do that.”

The minister visited Wee Waa on December 7 to personally discuss the Wee Waa High School issue with the school community.

A new high school remains a possible option.

“If it gets to the point where it is difficult to find a cause of the health issues, we are actively looking at what we will need to do to build a new school,” said Mrs Mitchell.

“I am anticipating being able to make a decision on that pretty soon.

“I realise it is very important to let the school community know as soon as possible which direction we will be taking.”

Staff and students won’t be going back to the high school in first term.

Day one, term one, will still be at the public school as was the case at the end of last year.

“The two schools will be operating as two separate schools but sharing the one campus but we will be making a decision about the future pretty soon and actively looking at the development of a new school on a new site because that might be where we may end up,” said Mrs Mitchell.

A decision should be made in the next few weeks.

“We have been doing this work over the school holidays. There hasn’t yet been a clear indication as to the cause of the health issues as yet.”

Meanwhile, the Schools Infrastructure section is looking at the development of a new school, budgets and costs and exploring potential sites.

“If it reaches the point where we can’t get an outcome on the existing site we will build a new school somewhere else in Wee Waa,” said the Education Minister.

A new school could be constructed relatively quickly.

There are several ways it can be done ‘quite quickly.’

“One of the models we have for a new school build is called DFMA – Design for Manufacture and Assembly – whereby large parts of the school can be built off site and brought in.

“We have done that in other parts of the state including Wagga where we are building a new school,” said Mrs Mitchell.

“The buildings can go up pretty quickly. It obviously still takes time in planning, but it does accelerate the normal time frame for building a brand new school.”

The minister said she will manage what a new school would look like, and where it would be, in conjunction with the school community.

“We will be looking to finalise as soon as we can what we will be doing to alleviate uncertainty in the community.”

She said parents and the community wanted to know what’s coming and have certainty going forward.

“They just want to know there is a plan for their children and that’s what is important to finalise as soon as possible,” she told ABC radio.