Parents of Blakebrook Public School students are frustrated at how long it is taking to rebuild their school following extensive damage in the 2022 big flood.

Parents' main concern is for the children who have had a disruptive two-and-a-half years moving to and from their temporary schooling at Goolmangar Public School.

Parent Erica Gully told the Lismore App that after an initial period directly after the flood, students were off school; they were then asked to travel to Goolmangar each day.

'"Learning couldn't take place on-site because it was a disaster zone. They weren't able to attend any school, and then they somewhat amalgamated with Goolmangar. They were in different learning spaces, but they were sharing the school with Goolmangar, which was a small school as well.

(Blakebrook PS soon after the February 28 2022 big flood. Photo: supplied)

On the NSW Government's website, data taken from each school's annual report said the student population from Kindy to Year 6 for Blakebrook was 54 in 2023 and 2 for Goolmangar (12 in 2022).

Being a small school, Goolmangar struggled to accommodate students from two schools.

"They were crammed. The whole school was crammed into two classrooms for a period of time, which wasn't ideal, but at least they were together, and they were learning, so they won't have to be spread apart."

While at Goolmangar, the Department of Education was creating a temporary learning space back at Blakebrook.

"Then they were moved back to Blakebrook on-site in demountables. And while that was different for our students, they were back in a familiar space with all their peers, and their playground and all that sort of stuff, which was great.

"We had a couple of information sessions with the school infrastructure team, School Infrastructure New South Wales. We had one probably about April, I think, of 2023, where community was invited to go and speak with some of the members of the infrastructure team. We were taken through a bit of a plan about what was going to happen with Blakebrook.

"There was definitely a plan to rebuild on site, with flood risk mitigation in place. The design would take into consideration flood and would be built accordingly, so well above the height and taking into consideration access and all that sort of stuff for different students. It was exciting for us to be able to see that there was going to be something happening.

"The next information session was in October of 2023, where a bit of a draught plan had been made in terms of the design, and we were told that our kids would remain on site. The demountables would be moved however many metres into the playground area, which is basically like a soccer field, so construction could take place or installation of construction could take place because most of it was being constructed off-site in Melbourne, and then it would be brought on site and basically installed to minimise any kind of disruption.

At that point in time, Erica said she felt listened to and engaged by the School Infrastructure team, and felt progress was being made.

"It felt good to say that things were happening and the wheels are in motion, and things were happening. Then, only two months later, in December, there was a bit of an urgent call out for families to attend another information session where we were told that no, they wouldn't be moving the demountables, our children would be moved off-site back to Goolmangar to do their learning.

"I don't know what happened, there was no real communication around what had happened and why that change occurred. But obviously, something happened where they could no longer learn on site while construction was taking place. That was kind of the beginning for us, with everything unravelling in terms of communication.

"We haven't had an information session since. And the thing that's valuable about those is that you can have a Q&A. There are people in the room who can actually answer questions on the spot. We have received pretty consistent project updates, so they've been uploaded to our school's website, and often the students are provided with a hand-out. But the updates are nothing, in my opinion, they're not really that informative. Nothing seems to be really moving.

In May 2023, the update that we had was that there'd be a two-year completion date. So, 2024 was the ideal goal, pending weather, approvals, and all that sort of stuff. That was the date that was set, you know, end of 2024 which is fast approaching and it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

The frustration for parents like Erica is they were told the students had to move back to Goolmangar from Term 2 this year so the Blakebrook site could be prepared.

"The entire Term 2, nothing changed at Blackebrook. The students had moved to Goolmangar already, and that was really distressing for a lot of our students and families because it was yet another change, yet another adjustment that we had to make, and that's taking its toll.

"So, to be told, okay, you're going to start learning from Term 2 at Goolmangar, and then for a whole term, nothing was happening on site. The May 2024 update....nothing. There was nothing new, everything seemed to really halt.

"In June, the demountables at Blake Brook that our students were learning in were decommissioned. They hadn't been removed; they were just sort of decommissioned, so that makes me think the kids probably didn't likely need to leave Blakebrook until Term 3. We were also told in that June update that the off-site build was at 25%, and the most recent update is it's now at 50%, and the temporary demountables have now been removed from Blakebrook.

The next hurdle was around some buildings having heritage significance.

"We knew that there was some heritage stuff going on with Blakebrook. We were all made aware at the start that it was possibly two buildings that had heritage significance. In this latest update, we've been told that the conditions need to be met prior to the demolition of the existing Blakebrook buildings, the flooded buildings, and that includes the development of a heritage implementation strategy. It's like there's constantly something new happening that's preventing any real progress.

"We still haven't been told whether or not it's going to be completed in 2024. It's looking unlikely, there's only, really, a term and a bit left of the school year. But no one's told us this. I'd like to make it clear that I don't think that's on our school. I think our school is giving us the information as soon as they receive it, it seems like it's more School Infrastructure of New South Wales.

"It's a waiting game. And I think the thing that's been the hardest through this, and this is a snapshot because, I obviously talk to other parents and families as well, is that our young people at Goolmangar catch a shuttle bus back to Blakebrook interchange. So, there's a lot of families who pick their children up from there, or the kids alternatively get on a different bus at the Black Brook interchange, and we're constantly seeing the lack of anything happening. It's every day. You're seeing that there's no progress, and I think that visual reminder is really confronting."

Communication. It is one part of any government department that is lacking; just think about the communication from the NSW Reconstruction Authority. The NSW Government appears to want to make an announcement when ministers are available, and the project is finished with a nice ribbon around it. When, in fact, the community understand this is a journey and would love regular, honest updates as part of that journey.

The Lismore App was told late yesterday by the NSW Government that an on-line Blakebrook P&C briefing will take place tomorrow (Wednesday).