PERSISTENCE and perseverance pays off. It’s been three years since one of the buildings at Oxley High School burned to the ground, and tonight, coincidentally, its replacement will be officially opened.
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As students made do with demountables and finally a new building rose from the ruins of its predecessors, unbeknown to the community police were working hard behind the scenes on trying to identify those behind the blaze.
Yesterday, those efforts paid off as a 21-year-old man fronted court charged with arson.
Unfortunately, schools are easy targets for people with mischief on their minds and too often fall victim to thieves, vandals and arsonists.
And every one of these attacks hits at the heart of our communities.
Schools, particularly in small towns, are the centre of our communities, the place where our future generations grow and prosper and are ultimately moulded into the leaders of tomorrow.
Parents, students, teachers and friends work hard to ensure our schools have all the resources they need – and then some.
Where government funding falls short, school communities raise funds to provide all the extras that go towards enhancing our students’ reputation.
In the Oxley blaze, all the fruits of that labour were lost, not to mention all the work of students and teachers, and the trauma associated with that.
It was a serious blow to the school that has taken years to recover from.
It’s a message to us all to be vigilant in our communities, too, noting any suspicious activity around public facilities after hours, and reporting it to authorities.
We must continue to emphasise the message that our schools are not soft targets – and the recent efforts of police are a very good place to start.