Schools south of the Illawarra will keep their doors closed on Tuesday, September 19 following concerns over extreme fire risk.
Bodalla Public School, Mogo Public School, Broulee Public School, St Bernard's Primary School, Batemans Bay Public School, Sunshine Bay Public School and Narooma High School are among the 20 school closures following Rural Fire Service advice of an extreme fire danger rating through the day.
The news comes as the Illawarra faces hot and windy conditions and a high fire danger.
"The NSW Rural Fire Service have advised the department that an extreme fire danger rating will be in place tomorrow (September 19) for [the] Far South Coast," Broulee Public School's relieving principal Rachel Dunne shared in a post to social media.
"Fire Danger Ratings (FDR) describe the potential level of danger should a bushfire or grassfire start. They do not indicate the chance of a fire occurring. The new Australian Fire Danger Rating System has four ratings. Moderate, High, Extreme and Catastrophic.
"To ensure the safety of students and staff, a decision has been made that our school will not be operating on Tuesday 19 September 2023. There will be no staff on site tomorrow. Please ensure that you put supervision arrangements in place for your child tomorrow.
"The Out of school hours care service will not be available."
A similar post shared by the Narooma High School warns students and parents that the school will be "non-operational" on Tuesday, September 19 "due to advice from the RFS and Department of Education".
Parents are urged to check their emails for any updates from the schools and also keep an ear out for alerts from the Rural Fire Service.
Narooma Public School said it would be open and did not share a "bushfire prone" category the same as the High School.
Batemans Bay Public principal Kel Smerdon said in a post to Facebook that hard lessons had been learned about volatile conditions previously.
"We have learnt a lot from our past experiences especially in the area of making proactive decisions to ensure community safety," the post reads.
"For this reason, Batemans Bay Public School will be non-operational tomorrow."
Ms Dunne said the Broulee Public School plans to re-open on Wednesday, September 20 unless other advice is issued by the RFS.
Batemans Bay High School relieving principal Caterina Herder-Beke said that Batemans Bay High School had not received any advice as of 7pm on September 18 from the Department of Education and would be open as normal.
At the time of writing, St Peter's Catholic College had not indicated a closure.
The temporarily closed schools are:
- Batemans Bay Public School
- Bega Valley Public School
- Bemboka Public School
- Bermagui Public School
- Bodalla Public School
- Bournda Environmental Education Centre
- Broulee Public School
- Candelo Public School
- Central Tilba Public School
- Cobargo Public School
- Mogo Public School
- Narooma High School
- Pambula Public School
- Quaama Public School
- Sunshine Bay Public School
- Tanja Public School
- Tathra Public School
- Towamba Public School
- Wolumla Public School
- Wyndham Public School
We encourage parents and carers to always follow the advice of Police and Emergency Services during periods of heightened bushfire risk.
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