‘It just leaves us without anything’: why was Wodonga left reeling by sudden primary school closure?

Daniel Dickinson says the closure of Bandiana primary school ‘just leaves us without anything.’ Photograph: Simon Dallinger

The Dickinsons have been sending their children to Bandiana primary school on the outskirts of Wodonga for more than eight years.

But at the end of 2023, the community suddenly received notice the school would be closing when the lease for the site expires at the end of 2025. Students will be enrolled at a new primary school being built at Leneva, another suburb south of Wodonga, set to open in 2026.