Schools gear up for 2025 with summer maintenance blitz

MORE than 800 public schools across New South Wales are returning for the 2025 school year with upgraded facilities, thanks to a summer maintenance blitz by the state government.

As part of an extensive maintenance program, 1,200 projects were completed across the state, supported by a $1.08 billion investment in minor works. This includes $600 million allocated to essential maintenance aimed at improving schools for students and staff alike.

Among the standout projects, Lismore Heights Public School received a $3 million upgrade to create a purpose-built special education learning unit.

Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin said the upgrades would transform learning opportunities for students with additional needs.

“This creates a purpose-built special learning area, and that’s really important not only for the children but for their teachers and their support teachers,” Saffin said.

“They’ve done a wonderful job here for a long time with what they had.

“But now they’ll have a sensory room. They’ll have a proper bathroom. They’ll have breakout areas.

They’ll have bigger rooms, all sorts of things that they weren’t able to have before.”

Principal Mark Scotton said the upgrades reflect the school community’s commitment to supporting students with disabilities.

“The facilities that we had didn’t really cater for the broad range of needs that we have for the students at our school,” Scotton said.

“We’ve really embraced having support units at the school. So we now have a support unit which consists of three classes, and that was an additional class that we put in about two years ago.

“We’ve got a strong commitment as a community—both students, staff, and parents—towards supporting students with additional needs.

“And this is really about making sure that we’ve got equal access to learning for students with disabilities in line with that for students without.”

Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said these maintenance projects, while unassuming, were essential for keeping schools safe and functional.

“We are committed to ensuring that NSW public schools are quality places to work and learn,” Minns said.

“They may not be the most exciting upgrades, but they are essential to keeping our schools safe and running smoothly.

“We know there’s still work to be done, but it’s fantastic that hundreds of schools will be returning on day one to completed works.”

The upgrades are part of the government’s broader efforts to ensure every public school, regardless of location, is equipped with modern and functional facilities.

The Lismore project is expected to be completed early in Term 1, 2025.