Queenstown secondary students meeting, 4 November 1999 - notes
Murray High School students met with the inquiry at Queenstown. Murray High School is the only secondary school on the West Coast. Students from Zeehan and Strahan travel to Queenstown to attend this school. A number of secondary aged students from the West Coast go to boarding school for their secondary education.
Students at Murray High School wanted more subject choices and more options to study the arts. The students also felt that there was a lack of social activity with other schools.
The buses
A number of difficulties with school transportation were raised in the meeting. Many students spend 8 hours per week on the school bus. In order to get to school on time, students from Zeehan and Strahan have to catch the bus at approximately 7am. This was considered to be too early for most. The travelling students complained that they had no time for breakfast. As a potential solution to this problem, the students suggested a change to the school starting hours to allow time for travel.
'The buses are gross and the bus drivers are mean. The buses are dirty and there is too much travelling. The drivers just sit there swearing and beeping the horn.'
'I leave my house at 7am and then I get home at 4pm. I spend 8 hours a week travelling when I could be spending that time doing much better things. It cuts into your homework time too and we all get really tired.'
'Every now and then the buses break down. And the other thing is that if you miss the bus you don't get to go to school. My dad just takes off in the morning and if you're not ready he goes without you because if you're not there for the bus it will go without you.'
Sporting and social activities
'We don't get to play any sport with any other schools. No-one comes here. We don't have any sports teams. There's nothing really.'
Teachers
'We get all the young teachers and they are pretty bad here because they force them to come here in their first years of teaching. They are not as qualified as the other teachers and this has an effect on you because you don't feel like you're worth it. They stay for just as long as they have to and then they go after 3 years.'
Breakfast club
'They used to have a breakfast club for the kids who had to get up really early, but they have stopped doing that. I think it was the same old story, there was no money.'
Retention
'Most students don't go to school because they hate the teachers. The teachers are so strict and they don't make it fun. Kids just hang around on the streets and there are some drugs as well.'
Last updated 2 December 2001.
