The Office of Emergency Management has a list of bushfire recovery assistance contacts including emergency accommodation, animal welfare, recovery allowances and payments, farm and business assistance, legal assistance, water assistance, and counselling.
Affected staff can seek support through the Department’s Employee Assistance Program during the holiday and in term time, and counselling will be available for students and staff through their school once term begins.
The assessment of school buildings and facilities affected by the fires was started by officers of School Infrastructure NSW as soon as it was safe to do so, in order that school communities can be advised as soon as possible about the status of their school, and, if necessary, alternative arrangements.
It is expected that the vast majority of students will be returning to school as normal: advice about preparing for the start of school is on the Department’s Back to School page, but families facing any additional difficulty can also contact their school once term begins.
The school safety page will be updated with a list of government and non-government schools that are not operational.