Dozens of St Aloysius Parish School pupils will spend their first term learning in the art room and library after two grade five and six classrooms were gutted by a suspicious fire on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A graduate teacher had spent the past six weeks preparing her new classroom for the start of the school. Her hard work went up in smoke when she returned to find every item destroyed.
Incoming principal Michael Kennedy said emotions were high for teachers and students, but praised the broader community for rallying behind the school.
Federation University and Sebastopol Primary School have offered to donate spare furniture as the school prepares to be ready to open at the start of the school year on February 5.
“It’s extensively damaged beyond repair,” Mr Kennedy said.
“It is completely burnt out. We had a graduate teacher who had been spending a lot time getting ready for the year, she said it was perfect. Now it is an emotional time.”
Firefighters were called to reports of a building “fully involved” and “spreading” at the school campus at around 1am on Monday morning.
Ballarat City Fire Station senior station officer Shane Phillips said three units from Ballarat City and one unit from Sebastopol worked for more than one hour to contain and extinguish the fire.
“Firefighters were called to a structure fire at St Aloysius School in Redan,” Mr Phillips said.
“They arrived to find a portable classroom attached to other buildings fully involved. Firefighters put a stop to the fire at 2.15am. It has caused significant damage.”
Mr Kennedy praised firefighters for their quick work. He said the fire was initially believed to be threatening the nearby chapel and house occupied by a retired priest. He said the damage could have be far more substantial if it spread.
The damage bill is expected to exceed more than $250,000 and take more than a term to repair. Mr Kennedy said staff were focused on making the school environment as normal as possible and said students and parents should not be concerned. Detectives are continuing to probe the cause of the blaze. Anyone information? Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.