‘Chunks large enough to kill’: Parents sound alarm on maintenance as school roof collapses

The roof of an inner-city school was leaking for years when the pressure finally became too much and a section caved in, sending potentially deadly chunks of concrete crashing into the classrooms below.

It was only a quirk of the calendar that no one was hurt – or even killed.

The collapse, which occurred during the January school holidays while Collingwood College was empty, came after years of calls for urgent repairs to the building, which abuts the inner-north suburb’s public housing towers.

Families now want a thorough check of the whole building, saying temporary solutions have failed to fix the severe water damage, with the school council calling for urgent repairs since at least 2023.

The school is now enveloped in scaffolding, and parents believe schools are being left to rely on voluntary parent contributions or fundraising for necessities, including urgent repairs.

Reports by the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) in 2023, which took two years to be released, showed one in five Victorian public schools were in urgent need of repairs or rebuilding due to leaking roofs, cracked walls or other faults.

Collingwood College council president Hannah Marshall, who has two children at the school, said the building’s third level – which housed science labs, computer labs, an international student area and the year 10 student home rooms – has leaking roofs, metre-wide indoor puddles and concrete so water-damaged it is crumbling.

As the end of the school term nears, the floor remains closed.

The VSBA conducts inspections at every Victorian public school at least once every five years, identifying urgent issues and ensuring students have safe access to learning spaces.

But Marshall said the authority took so long to assess Collingwood College, the school community had to employ its own independent engineer.

“It’s a pretty important, really well-used part of the school,” Marshall said.

“It’s not a lack of care from the school community. It’s really just simply being asked to do too much.

“I don’t think that Collingwood College will be alone in feeling like we’re being a bit neglected by the VSBA.

“Everybody should have a safe working and learning environment,” she said.

“I think that we don’t see private schools being underfunded or having buildings like this. It’s just unfair for our students to be asked, and our teachers to be asked, to work in these kinds of environments.”

Marshall said the school did “so much from a parent perspective” in boosting enrolments, the school community, and even registering for the International Baccalaureate for the middle years.

She said the Collingwood school community was incredible, and parents were good at fixing or making the best of things, but they felt they weren’t being prioritised.

Parent James Rankin said there had been issues at the school since his son Sam, now in year 10, started in year 7.

“I love my school, and I love the people who work there and the community, but I sometimes think, ‘have I made the right choice for my kids?’,” he said.

Sam said the year 10 students had to commute half an hour each way to the senior campus to use science labs and the computer labs were also out of action, putting families who could not afford laptops for their children at further disadvantage.

While the top floor remains closed, students have been crammed into two levels and accessing lockers has become difficult, with Sam choosing to carry all his belongings instead of trying to access his locker.

“It’s become overwhelming.”

The student said there was also a smell from flooding and leaks, and when repair works were done they were disruptive.

James Rankin said while he sat with his daughter during a parent-teacher interview, five buckets sat collecting water from the leaking ceiling in the classroom.

“They can’t even get a leaky roof fixed,” he said.

Local Greens state MP Gabrielle de Vietri said when she visited the school in March there were stalactites inside the ceiling where the water had been leaking for years, and concrete rubble on the floor from the collapsed ceiling.

“It terrified me for the condition that this building was in and the risk that it could pose to students and teachers, and the whole floor is condemned,” she said.

“Concrete from the roof is falling through the ceiling into the classrooms below, chunks large enough to seriously injure or even kill a student.”

‘Concrete from the roof is falling through the ceiling into the classrooms below, chunks large enough to seriously injure or even kill a student.’

Gabrielle de Vietri, Greens MP

De Vietri also said Spensley Street Primary School in Clifton Hill was in dire need of new toilets.

“There’s moss growing inside the walls. Some of the toilet doors don’t shut. The tiles are falling off. The toilets don’t flush properly. You’ve got teachers and the principal using plungers every single day just to get the pipes moving. This is not the way our school system should be.”

De Vietri said some schools got the promise of new facilities at election time, but other learning spaces are crumbling.

David Nicholls is on the school council at Spensley Street Primary and said the children’s toilets hadn’t been upgraded in five decades.

“The kids’ toilets, they stink … imagine 50 years of children’s urine on lino,” he said of the odour.

The staff toilets were also “absolutely appalling”, Nicholls said, and no one should have to deal with inadequate facilities.

He noted that although Education Minister Ben Carroll visited the school and the VSBA had visited, the community was still waiting to find out about the upgrades.

“No one wants to cut a ribbon in front of a toilet block,” he said.

In response to questions an Education Department spokesman said the VSBA was working with the school to “evaluate the conditions of the toilets and to identify any remediation actions that might be required”.

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch president Justin Mullaly said staff, students and support staff had the right to a safe teaching and learning environment.

“Mould in classrooms or staff facilities, and other serious health and safety risks are completely unacceptable and must be addressed immediately before anyone is injured or becomes unwell.”

He said the state government must continue to provide adequate maintenance resources and funding to replace buildings that weren’t fit for purpose.

“One way to provide for the infrastructure needs of public schools is for the government to stop allocating hundreds of millions of dollars for private school enhancements as they have done in recent years,” Mullaly said.

A Department of Education spokesperson said the safety of students and staff at Collingwood College was paramount, but it acknowledged the closures in the main building were disruptive for the school community.

“We have made alternative learning arrangements for year 10 science students, and an alternative modular classroom will be in place for further science classes by early May 2026,” they said.

“A project to resolve leaks coming through the roof is under way and due for completion by the end of this month.

“We are working with structural engineers to plan a full remediation for the roof and timelines for completion will then be shared with the Collingwood College school community as soon as possible.”

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