There was an air of excitement last Friday when Lismore South Public School staff and students had their first look at designs for their new school, along with the school’s preschool, Ngulliboo Jarjums Preschool.

Both schools were extensively damaged during the devastating February 202 floods.

Gaye Titcume is the relief Assistant Principal of Lismore South Public School (PS). Gaye described the events leading up to and including 28 February 2022.

"The morning before the night of the flood, we were lifting the preschool, which is a pretty standard thing to do here when there's a flood coming. So, in the building behind you, all the staff members came in, and the contents of that building were taken upstairs to the library. That's what normally happens. However, on that night, that was also where all the little boats were bringing people to, because that was the only area that was out of the water.

"It was (the water) 14 metres up the side of the building. So, this building here, those first lot of windows were totally underwater, and it was up to where those posters are. The staircase over here, the boats were pulling in over the top of that and there are about two or three steps that weren't in water at the top of that staircase.

"Everything else was underwater. Everything else was ruined. All the classrooms, all the contents of everything in the classrooms was totally stripped back and nothing was able to be saved.

Emergency schooling for the students was set up in Goonellabah before a temporary school was built using demountables across the road from the Wilson Street site.

Gaye began her time at Lismore South PS five weeks before the flood happened. She gave an insight into what the last two and half years have been like for its students.

"Our students were going through things that people should never go through. Three-quarters of the children lost their homes, and all of them lost their school, so it was a massive disaster. The students, remarkably, were so resilient.

"Obviously, in the first stages, we were just navigating looking after their well-being, but we've been able to build the stamina back to learning and certainly, once we got back here on our own grounds in our little demountable home, we've been able to get back on with the core business, which is learning and the children.

"I think it's really changed their outlook. They're very grateful children. So even though some of these children have had nothing, it's actually quite a beautiful story because I think the students have realised that they're just things. I think we've become a more close-knit school. I think the teachers and students and community, we all just kind of cuddled each other through that and now we're on the other side of it. We get to be part of getting excited about this new rebuild."

Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin joined three student leaders (Beau, Isabell and Ellie), Gaye Titcume, Nickie Bartlett (Director of Educational Leadership for the Lismore Network of Schools) and Samantha Sainsbury from the P&C to take a first look at the school’s designs.

The new school will include 13 modern classrooms, a library, a multi-purpose hall, undercover learning and play areas, a games court, and a preschool.

The core school facilities will all be located on the first floor, with a flood-resilient design, 4 metres above natural ground – which is 500 millimetres higher than the 2022 flood level – and supported by engineered flood-resilient structures. The new facilities will be accessed via lifts, ramps and stairs, and connected by an undercover walkway.

(The Kyogle Street entrance of Lismore South PS)

The raised buildings will minimise disruption from any future flood events, so students can return to face-to-face learning at their school much sooner. They will also provide extensive undercover outdoor teaching and play areas for Lismore South students and staff.

The primary school and preschool will share an entrance, and the preschool will have its own first-floor play area and toilets off the main classrooms, as well as toilets and a play area on the ground floor.

Lismore South Public School P&Cs Samantha Sainsbury said there is a sense of excitement about the new plans and the fact it is being built on the same site.

"Everyone's pretty excited that it's going to be rebuilt on the original site. I know the kids are really excited. They've actually mentioned this morning, how they have memories walking across to the old site. There's so many memories here. Some of the students parents went to this school, so I think it's really special and really important that it gets rebuilt on this site."

School Captain Beau Carey and Vice Captains Isabell Lanna and Ellie Martin won't step inside the new building as students but were still thrilled to see the plans and have memories from two and a half year's ago.

Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin was as excited as the students and staff because she did her practical teaching at Lismore South PS when she was studying to be a primary school teacher.

"I'm just delighted. I think you can see I'm really happy to be here. This is a good news story. And it's good for our community. It's good for our rebuild, and it's good for our future. And it's good for our future students who will come here.

"I asked them (the students) if they'd been consulted, and they had been, so they've actually had input into the design. And I think that's wonderful that the school community, the students and any future students and families have all had that input.

Nickie Bartlett is the Director of Educational Leadership for the Lismore Network of Schools. Nicki was the person to explain the technical aspects of the build, such as the preschool being on the same level as the primary school classrooms.

"We have support unit classrooms, we have 12 general learning spaces as part of the school and also specific landscape designs that, very importantly, include the culture of Widjabul Wia-bal, which is an important part of the new design of the school.

"I think being able to build back here was a really important part of the community consultation process. And I'm just really delighted that we're able to build such an important piece of infrastructure for the Lismore South community."

"The flooding events of 2022 had such an impact on the community and for them to be able to be part of any new build is a very important part of the recovery process. And we build schools for communities. So, it's really important that we listen to any feedback that's given and that we are very responsive to that feedback.

"It's been a long process and a long consultation process, but certainly, we want to get it right. We want to get it right for the students, we want to get it right for the staff, and we want to get it right for the community because what we're building here will be part of education in the Lismore community and in the South Lismore community for generations to come."

In terms of a visual representation of the new building height, Nickie explained the first floor would be approximately half a metre higher than the old library in the picture. Nickie also said that it was 0.5 of a metre above the 2022 flood level.

(Lismore South students Beau (School Captain), Isabell and Ellie (School Vice Captains), Samatha Sainsbury P&C, Gaye Titcume Relief Assistant Principle and Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin in front of the soon-to-be demolished school library)

There is a silver lining in the post-flood rebuild, and that lies in the fact that every building on the site will be demolished, so every part of the rebuild will be new.

When the school was built in 1978, it has had additions or extensions over the years, so everything is a bit ad-hoc. Starting from scratch will see a cohesive design maximising the space for learning on the first floor and the play areas on the ground.

Media had a chance to view a few of the concept designs when they were revealed. The full set of Lismore South PS masterplan and concept designs will be on display for parents, students, staff and interested community members this Wednesday, August 7 at the current Lismore South Public School COLA site on Wilson Street, South Lismore during an information session between 2:30pm and 5:30pm.

As part of the planning process, the Department is preparing a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) to identify any potential impacts the rebuilding of Lismore South Public School may have on the local community. A planning application will be submitted once all the information required by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has been completed, including the SIA.

The question that most people never want to answer relates to time-frames.

"That's a good question. We will obviously need to go through the planning approval process and the construction. We're hoping that will take sort of 18 months to two years. We're very much hoping to be completed by 2027, Nickie Bartlett said.

While it was acknowledged that Lismore South PS has lost student enrollments because of the flood's impact, Nickie did say, "We were building the school back for the enrollments that were pre-flood."

It is very early days, but the new Lismore South PS concept designs and masterplan is another example that Lismore will build back better. It will just take time.