There was a buzz in the air for the first day back at Deniliquin High School and although the campus looked different, the positive energy from students remained the same.

Over the school holidays, the school was quickly transformed into a temporary campus with 24 demountable classrooms including fully equipped Technology and Applied Science workshops, science labs, a library and staff rooms.

It comes after a fire tore through the school in late November, damaging many of its buildings

For Principal Glen Warren, it has always been about rising from the ashes.

“There’s no change for us as we have replacement rooms for everything that we’ve lost,” he said. “It’s also about the people; we’ve still got our quality teachers.

“I said to the students that it doesn’t matter what room you’re in, but it’s the people who are there in front of you. However the spaces are great, and the students are not missing anything.”

He acknowledged the “huge effort” from the Department in getting students back into classrooms for the first day of the school term.

The temporary school has been designed to maintain playground space as well as the school’s basketball courts, and the buildings not impacted by the fire have been cleared for use.

Mr Warren enjoyed standing at the front gate welcoming students back on site as one community again while the P&C also had bacon and egg rolls ready to go.

“I think there’s lots of general excitement to see the new school and see where they are going to be learning, especially the year 7 students,” he said.

School captain Baxter Cowley agreed it was exciting to walk through the gates and be united as a school again.

“Everyone was keen and eager to see how the school is, and I think it’s a good start to the year,” he said.

Back to the classroom for Western Division Schools

Madeline Austin reports.

The school bell has rung today for the first time in 2026 for more than 12,000 students across 133 schools in the central and far west of NSW. 

Trundle Central School kicked off its school year welcoming 18 new enrolments, a number that has continued to grow every year. 

Trundle Central School Principal, John Southon, said he was looking forward to watching 2026’s kindy cohort start their education journey, and where it might take them in the future. 

“For the past 10 years, we haven't had a single student graduate who didn’t go on to complete an apprenticeship, or go on to further education at TAFE, or University,” Mr Southon said. 

“We want our students to know they have the same opportunities as any other student, whether they live rural or not.” 

For the year ahead, students are looking forward to finally getting to conduct experiments in the school’s new science lab which are still under construction. 

Once completed, four other central schools – Peak Hill, Tullamore, Tottenham and Yeoval – also will be able to make use of the new lab when visiting study days twice a term, as part of the Western Access Program. 

Principal Southon said Trundle was gearing up for a great 2026. 

“We teach the curriculum, but we also teach attitude – of self-belief, of mindfulness and of knowing that you can achieve anything you set your mind to,” he said.