Thieves steal school pump

SWIMMING at Bass Valley Primary School had to be cancelled last week after thieves broke into the school and removed the school’s pool pump.

Staff arrived at the school on the Tuesday morning to start preparing the pool for the daily swimming lessons only to find that their pump had been removed.

Thieves entered the locked area overnight, disconnected the pump and made off with the pump valued at over $3000.

Jon McCormick, the schools swimming, and PE teacher said, “It is disappointing for the students, we are fortunate to have a pool onsite for our swimming program which eliminates the 30 minutes of travel each way to the nearest pool at Wonthaggi.”

“It is the students who miss out, the pool really is the centrepiece of resources at Bass Valley Primary School. They were really upset when they were told they won’t have swimming until the pump is replaced.”

Further to their problems, the school’s annual fete and ‘Ducklotto’ was scheduled on Friday night where the pool is again part of their fundraising campaign. Kylie Lansdown, one of the fete organisers said that “Thankfully, we were able to do some makeshift arrangements to make the pool safe for a short period of time to go ahead with Ducklotto, so students and families did not miss out on this community event.”

Assistant Principal Ben Hallas said, “Bass Coast Pumps and Electrical have been fantastic is assisting us with sourcing and locating a pump replacement and we are hoping that we can resolve this problem soon and the students can get back into the pool and be ready for our school swimming sports in the coming weeks.”

Bass Valley Primary School is in a rural space away from any townships, which allows for great grounds and space for the students to enjoy. “Unfortunately, the benefits of having amazing school grounds are now coming at a cost and it is disheartening to hear that thieves would target a small, community primary school like ours,” said Mr Hallas.

“Our pool area is always locked, as are other parts of our school grounds, so to access resources like the pool people need to use force. Now, we are having to investigate surveillance and greater security measures for the school which is both expensive and not what we expected to be doing for a school space. It is a shame, because now we must spend money on security and not on teaching our kids."