General News
3 June, 2025
Primary school building is increasingly showing age
In the lead up to the school’s 150th birthday, Clunes Primary School’s main heritage building is starting to show it’s age.
This year marks a monumental milestone for the school community, celebrating a century and a half of education.
However, Clunes’ notoriously soft soil has caused the front half of the building to shift and gradually come apart.
Clunes Primary School principal Sonia Jardine said operating a school in an old building has meant implementing various repairs over the years.
“This beautiful building of ours has had multiple repairs over the years, there’s lots of under pins because like many buildings in Clunes, we are on fragile soils,” she said.
“Being an older building, we have challenges as well, we have a slate roof, which means when ever the wind blows, we will have a direct water issue. The government has an action plan ready to implement, it just takes time,” she said.
However, more damage has occurred very recently, with deterioration following rapidly.
During the previous school holidays, Ms Jardine was contacted by a staff member who noticed a brick had fallen from a large window arch.
“On the Wednesday after Easter, my five-six teacher came to collect me at 7.30 in the morning to show me one of the bricks had fallen from the archway. I made an immediate make-safe report,” she said.
Many of the bricks near to the window have also shuffled nearly half their length.
A brace is currently being used to stabilise the brickwork.
The southern end of the building was cornered off with temporary fencing after cracks were identified.
The affected areas include the storeroom, small office and porch.
“At Easter time, that issue didn’t exist, so that’s of concern. It has replicated on the inside, so that is an out of bounds area now,” Ms Jardine said.
The storage cupboard in the art room has even moved a few inches out from the adjacent structure.
“It is significantly worse than a week ago. We are now in week six of term, and this wasn’t like that at Easter,” Ms Jardine said.
Families of students have been assured the school grounds are still safe, and the school is currently working alongside the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) to investigate the best options to address the issue.
The VSBA have since made assessments on school grounds to ensure the safety of the building.
“The bracing on the building means it’s not quite stable, so at the moment, they are in the middle of developing an actual frame,” Ms Jardine said.
“It’s like the building has said, ‘I’ve hit 149 years and 11 months old, I think I’ve had enough’.”
Ms Jardine said the school is continuing to work with the VSBA to ensure any works cause minimal disruptions to the school’s operations.
She is assuring the community that these issues will not impact the events planned for the school’s 150th birthday.
“This is where we will have the birthday with cupcakes and a historical photo re-enactment, which is why it will be ready, but we understand this all can’t be repaired over night,” she said.
Ms Jardine also said there has been no impact on student learning or the future of the building.
“We have a relentless belief that we will make it right for the future generations,” she said.
“Even though we are about to celebrate our 150th anniversary, this school will be here in that many years in the future, and be filled with kids that have the best opportunities for their learning and their wellbeing.”