Acacia Hill School is preparing to reopen after destructive hail storms impacted the schools infrastructure late Friday afternoon. The school will be reopen and operate as normal from Wednesday 22 June.

While repairs are still underway at the school, Department of Education Chief Executive, Mr Ken Davies said, “it’s a great outcome to be able to reopen Acacia Hill School after just two days of closure.”

“Acacia Hill provides educational services to high support needs students and returning to the normal routine of schooling as quickly as possible is the best possible outcome for our students,” said Mr Davies.

Centralian Senior College has been severely impacted by the hail storms with major water damage to both levels of the school.

Mr Davies said, “Arrangements have been made for Centralian Senior College students to temporarily relocate to Centralian Middle School for the remainder of the school term”. 

A formal learning program will be provided for Centralian Senior College from Wednesday 22 June for all Year 10 and 11 students. Year 12 students relocated to Centralian Middle School on Monday have been continuing their schooling and learning programs have been uninterrupted.

“Every effort has been made to minimise disruption to student learning especially for Year 12 students.”

All other Alice Springs government and non-government schools have been fully operational from Monday 20 June.

A number of school staff, parents and guardians, and community members assisted in the response and recovery efforts over the weekend.

“I have been extremely impressed and thankful for the support that the schools in Alice Springs have received from the local Alice Springs community.

Providing a safe learning environment for Northern Territory Government students is our highest priority”  Mr Davies said.

The Department of Education and the Department of Infrastructure are working together to assess and repair damage to all schools that were affected by the hail storms that hit Alice Springs late on Friday afternoon.”

“Work has begun to repair all minor and major damage inflicted on schools and we are pleased with the progress so far and look forward to returning to Term 3 on Monday 25 July, with repairs being finalised to the schools buildings and equipment” said Mr Davies.

Alice Springs parents, guardians and carers can contact their local school or check their school’s website or Facebook page for further updates.

Media contact: Hayley Green - 0459 801 149