Blaze school help

By Dion Teasdale
LIFE at Wandin North Primary School is quickly returning to normal after parts of the school were destroyed in a blaze last month.
A fire in the early hours of Saturday, 11 March, destroyed the school’s library, computer room and staff room, and damaged the school’s canteen, toilet block and gardens.
The damage bill has been estimated at about $500,000 and the school lost more than 10,000 library books and thousands of teacher resources in the blaze.
When classes resumed last week, the school found itself inundated with generous offers of help from the community.
Among the offers was an immediate assistance package from the Wandin Seville Community Bank in the form of a $10,000 interest free loan.
The bank’s manager, Tony Forbes, said the loan was designed to help the school get back on its feet as quickly as possible.
“The loan is to help the school purchase necessary and essential items that they would otherwise have to wait months for when funds come through insurance,” Mr Forbes said.
“We hope the loan will give the school the money they need to get day-to-day life back to normal for the students.”
School principal Hetty Thomas said the much-needed interest free loan was greatly appreciated by the 130 student school.
“We will use the money to immediately purchase all the things we need to run the school to the best of our abilities for the next 10 weeks,” she said.
“The money will be used to purchase and install drinking taps for the students, library books and shelving, and teaching resources.”
Ms Thomas said the loan was one of many offers of help the school had decided to accept.
“We’ve had wonderful support from neighbouring schools who have called to say ‘tell us how we can help you’,” she said.
Staff and students from nearby Wandin Yallock Primary School delivered morning tea to the school last week and Mt Evelyn Primary School has donated 15 computers.
“We’ve had offers of donations of books from publishing companies such as Angus and Robertson and Penguin Books, and local nurseries have offered to donate plants for the garden,” she said.
Ms Thomas said the cause of the blaze, which was reported at about 3.50am on 11 March by a motorist travelling on the Warburton Highway, was still being investigated by police.
Wandin parent Sharon Lovegrove, who has two children attending the school, said parents and friends of the school met last week to discuss fund raising projects.
“The school community is looking at holding fund raising events like a car wash and a sausage sizzle and will also approach large companies like Bunnings and Kmart to see if they an help out,” she said.
“We are also appealing to the local community to make cash donations at the school office to help us get back on our feet.”