Rural and Remote Education - NSW

Rural

and Remote Education - NSW

Boggabilla ASSPA Committee

representatives, in Moree NSW, 5 March 1999 - notes

Boggabilla high

school

"But the school in

Boggabilla - its purpose was built for Aboriginal children from Toomelah

and Boggabilla. It's only new - early 90s. They used to have to go into

Goondiwindi (Qld) for high school. It's a big help.

"It's still only

a small school but it's a big attendance for us. Now kids are going back

to school - it's a big roll-up in secondary. There's about ten in Year

10 where there would be about three or four before. We need to sit down

and talk to them about it, why they're going back to school."

"No non-Aboriginal

kids go to Boggabilla school. The teachers live in Goondiwindi and they

send their kids to school there. It's not a good message though. Boggabilla

school isn't good enough for their kids. It's because of the level - the

education's not good enough. But if they don't push it, it won't change."

"A lot of Boggabilla

parents still send their [Aboriginal] children into Goondiwindi. The teachers

are sending the message that Boggabilla's not good enough. They're missing

out on the language program - their own language."

"I've got a son over

at Goondiwindi, I started him there last year. The only reason is that

he's a good football player and he plays in Goondiwindi. And when he goes

away - he gets picked to go away on camps - he was getting disqualified

because he was going to a NSW school."

Language programs

Kamilaroi language

is taught at both Toomelah and Boggabilla schools.

Until this year there

has been no tutoring or Reading Recovery program in the secondary school

even though the students' comprehension is very poor. There's no money

for secondary school tutoring.

Transport from Toomelah

community to school in Boggabilla

"The bus comes really

early and half the kids miss it. Then in the afternoon they have to wait

about an hour for the bus to come. The bus goes to Goondiwindi first."

Boggabilla ASSPA

Committee

Has a representative

from Toomelah and also some of the students themselves getting involved.

Community-based

Indigenous Teacher Education Program (CITEP)

There are two AEAs

at the school, one male and one female. One has been there 8 years and

the other for 2. Both are studying in the teacher training program based

at Boggabilla as are the two ASSPA Committee reps attending. 16 enrolled

all together, some full-time and some part-time.

Four years full-time

and 8 years part-time. "It's hard to keep your interest up for that long.

Plus I think they're giving us credit for what we've done (as AEAs and

in the Homework Centre) at the school."

Pre-school

"There's no pre-school

at Boggabilla. Though there is one at Toomelah. We've got a mobile pre-school

that comes there once a week. Now the school has got a transition class

- only for four-year-olds who are going into Kindergarten next year. Only

for a short time - only since last year. That goes for 3 days a week.

Our kids need proper pre-schooling from younger than that. Because once

they get to the transition stage they're still behind other kids that

have had decent pre-schooling. The kids can't settle. It takes the teachers

a year really to get onto a routine so that they can actually start teaching

them. So they're a year behind really when they get to Kindergarten. Having

a pre-school at Boggabilla will change all that.

"At Toomelah there's

a big difference because of the pre-school. They know their numbers, how

to count, their colours, everything. It's definitely needed. It'll bring

literacy and numeracy levels up.

"That's why they're

always on another level. It's always been like that for years. I reckon

it was because there's no pre-school. A lot of the kids there are in First

Class and they still don't recognise the alphabet. My husband is an AEA

at Boggabilla School and he says that half the kids in the high school

can't read or write. It's sad.

"The reason we've

been given for rejecting our submission is that there's a pre-school at

Toomelah. They offered to give a bus to the Boggabilla people to take

the kids out there. But a lot of the parents were a bit wary of sending

their kids that far away. They'd like to check on them. It's a bit of

a hassle to take the kids 20km out to Toomelah and then go to work and

then come an pick them up again. It's not as if it's next door."

Last

updated 2 December 2001.