This petition of certain residents of the Australian Capital Territory draws to the attention of the Assembly that: Canberra High School is far too hot and doesn’t have a complete or fully working cooling system.
A member of staff took a thermometer to school, and it showed that the one of the classrooms was 31.3 degrees. This is far too hot for inside a building. Most of the classrooms don’t have cooling, or it’s broken, or there are ceiling fans in a couple of classrooms but they do little to nothing. One of the teachers said in class that he leaves the window open overnight to try and cool the room but that still isn’t always enough. One of the LSAs said that when she was at school before Covid they said that they were working on the aircon but now over 6 years later there still is not sufficient cooling. The sound and lighting booth is also very hot. It is a little room at the back of the hall where the lights, speaker, microphones and projectors are controlled by the student Sound and Lighting Crew for assemblies. It has no airflow, cooling or fan and is extremely hot.
Students have no choice in coming to school therefore it is unfair that our learning environment is unsafe. The week school started in 2025 the temperatures were all mid to high 30s. Because climate change will make it even hotter it is important for the Government to make sure that schools have enough air conditioning so we can learn in a safe temperature.
Your petitioners therefore request the Assembly to call on the ACT Government to put air conditioning in all the classrooms and other spaces like the sound and lighting booth at Canberra High School before next summer.