Two of Lismore's historic and prominent schools are still assessing the damage bill after the February 28 megaflood.

We have regularly given updates for Trinity Catholic College via Principal Jesse Smith. Richmond River Secondary School has been another matter with delays in returning the Lismore App's question as to its rebuild status.

Yesterday, the NSW Government department of School Infrastructure has written a letter to parents of school students at Richmond River Secondary College providing an update on the school's situation.

The letter from Chief Executive Anthony Manning reads:

We write to you today to provide you with our current assessments of impacts the recent major flood events had on the Rivers Secondary College, Richmond River High School campus.

The Richmond River High Campus has a long and proud history of providing quality education to generations of families within the local community.

Unfortunately, historical minor and major flood events at the school have caused ongoing disruption to school operations and student learning and wellbeing.

Based on the Department of Education's site visits and assessments, all buildings except Block A, are beyond repair and deemed unsalvageable.

As a result of the extensive damage to the site, and the significant ongoing risk of future flooding, we foresee it is increasingly unlikely that the current site is viable for a rebuild.

A final determination regarding the viability will of the site will be made in consultation with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation who, from July 2022 begin acting on recommendations from the Independent Flood Inquiry.

We acknowledge sharing this information will be overwhelming for many of you and add to the strong sense of loss that already exists within your community.

We understand the importance of transparency and we remain committed to providing you with clear and up-to-date information about the future of the school site.

We want to reassure you, our number one priority has always been and continues to be, to rebuild the Richmond River High campus.

The rebuild of the school from educational planning through to the design and delivery of the project will be undertaken in consultation with the school community along with other relevant agencies and stakeholders.

Our priority as a department is to listen, understand and place the educational needs and wellbeing of students and staff including future students and staff at the forefront of our decision making.

Any decisions regarding potential site locations for the school, should that be the final determination of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation, will be made in consultation with the Corporation and through consultation with the community.

It is imperative that any potential new location will support student learning and wellbeing.

We are committed to enhancing the provision of quality education in Lismore and working in close partnership with the community to develop an educational rationale to guide our progress as we move into the next phase of this process.



A spokesperson from the Department of Education today told the Lismore App, "There is currently no location identified for where the school could be rebuilt. Any location would need to be determined based on the recommendations of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation. We will also work with school, students and the wider community to feed in their views."

Currently, students from the school are currently being taught at the Lismore site. Additional classrooms in a pop-up school are in the process of being completed – 27 classrooms are ready for handover and the remainder will be handed over in time for Term 3.