By Dongyun Kwon
Schools in Healesville couldn’t avoid the attack of the recent storm.
The storm caused a number of damages to Healesville High School.
Healesville High School principal Allan Rennick said the school lost power for about 48 hours.
“We lost the power from Tuesday afternoon until about three o’clock on Thursday,” he said.
“The damages that we sustained were several roof leaks in a variety of buildings and we also had some flooding in one area to school from excess groundwater.
“There were several branches and leaves of trees that fell to the ground.”
Mr Rennick said he appreciated all supports that the school got from different groups.
“There was a very large treatment of a five-metre-high tree outside our school boundary, but it fell away from our school to a paddock on the other side of the road and completely blocked McGregor Avenue,” he said.
“The SES was really quiet, very efficient, very prompt, and they’ve got that job cleared.
“The Victorian School Building Authority is also supporting us in repairing the damage that we have had.”
Despite the storm and the power outages, Healesville High School was operated with modified programs on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 February.
“Our students and staff are really very resilient,” Mr Rennick said.
“We’ve had, as has everybody, significant issues over the past 15 years through bushfires, floods, storm events and the pandemic.
“We’re quite used to modifying our programs and continuing working through.”
Due to the lower attendance because of the storm and power outages, Healesville High School had to combine classes to continue teaching students.
“On Wednesday, we had approximately 55 per cent of students attended,” Mr Rennick said.
“On Thursday, it was slightly less than 50 per cent.
“I fully understand that some parents choose to keep their children at home on those days, and some students have difficulties of their own at home.”
St Brigid’s Catholic Primary School was also affected by the storm, and, unfortunately, it had to close on Wednesday 14 February as it was out of power, communication and water pump.
St Brigid’s Catholic Primary School principal Tess Dwyer said the school was lucky that all students, staff and facilities didn’t get any damage from the storm.
“We’re certainly a bit worried when the storm hit, but no one was hurt, there was no damage and I haven’t heard of any issues from our family’s perspective,” she said.
“We just had to purchase 2 generators which got us up and running again on Thursday 15 February and we were happy when the power was restored at 1pm on the day.
“Our parents were great. They collected the students and were home safe and sound within 15 minutes of being notified.”
Healesville Primary School principal Tracey Robertson-Smith said the school was open for business as usual.
“We had no power, internet or communication pathways until 1:30 pm this afternoon [on Thursday 15 February] when everything was restored,” she said.
“This had minimal impact at school and our students, however many of them had no power at home as well.”
