Jindabyne Central School closed following the completion of the new $160 million Jindabyne Education Campus, which opened for the 2025 school year with students walking through the new ground gates at the beginning of February 2025.

The old site on Park Road ceased operations in mid-December 2024, with students, staff and families saying farewell to the site after decades of schooling.

As we reach mid-March 2026, more than a year since the school site closed, neighbouring residents of the old site continue to raise their concerns of the variable school speed zone signage still operational along the school streets.

According to Transport for NSW, decommissioning or altering a school speed zone in NSW is a formal process managed by Transport for NSW in consultation Department of Education and local councils as necessary.

“Decommissioning or altering a school speed zone in NSW requires formal confirmation from the NSW Department of Education that a school has closed and must align with the NSW Speed Zoning Standards,” A Transport for NSW spokesperson said.

“The process for decommissioning the school speed zone on Park Road at Jindabyne started mid last year after Schools Infrastructure NSW and the Department of Education confirmed the school had closed and there were no plans to use the existing Jindabyne Central School site as a future school facility.

“Transport for NSW switched off the flashing school lights on Wednesday 18 June, 2025.”

The 40km/h speed limit in school zones are still in place and carry with it increased fines and demerit points for certain school zone offences even though the school no longer exists.

“A speed zone review is a comprehensive process, involving site inspections, analysis of the road environment/conditions, crash data, and traffic volumes that can take up to 12 months to complete,” A Transport for NSW spokesperson said.

“Road sign installations and removals across the network are also prioritised as needed. Transport plans to remove the school speed zone signs from the old school site by the end of May 2026, subject to contractor availability and weather.

“Permanent school zone signage including flashing lights will be installed for the new school located on Barry Way once the ongoing road works are completed by Schools Infrastructure NSW.”

Snowy Monaro Regional Council, chief of infrastructure and projects, Tony Lickiss, said councillors brought this to council’s attention last year, that after the school ceased operations, the school signs were still operational.

“They are a lawful sign and if you go through a 40km speed zone and even though there is no school there it is still an enforceable zone,” Mr Lickiss said.

“We got the request to remove the signs, they are not a Council responsibility this responsibility sits with Transport of NSW, so we brought that request to Transport NSW.”

The school zone days exclude weekends, public holidays and public-school holidays but include school development days (or pupil-free days), as some students may still attend school on these days.

Most school zones operate 8am to 9.30am and 2.30pm to 4pm. However, there are a few non-standard school zone times in NSW.

You can identify these by the red or orange school zone signs which have the school zone times on them.

“Transport for NSW have been made aware of the issue and the information that has been passed onto us at Council is that they must have a specialist accredited contractor to take down the signs otherwise they can’t be reused,” Mr Lickiss said.

“The signage removed from the existing site may be relocated or used for spare parts,” A Transport for NSW spokesperson said.

“Relocation of the signage will depend on the condition of the existing signage, sign size and speeds outside the school zone times.”