Rural and Remote Education - NT

Rural

and Remote Education - NT

Nhulunbuy student meeting,

12 May 1999 - notes

The size of the

school

Nhulunbuy High School

offers Years 8 to 12 and has a total of 220 students. There is a lot of

individual assistance for students due to the size of the school. "We

have close relationships with teachers". "We have small classes which

makes it easier to learn." Students believe that knowing all other children

at the school is an advantage. The size of the school also gives students

the opportunity to represent their school at sports carnivals and at meetings.

"In senior school

the classes are very small which gives a better student teacher ratio."

"The teachers care if you get your work in." "The teachers give freely

of their own time, especially in the maths and sciences. They offer after

school tutoring." The teachers also encourage you to be independent. "I

like the smaller classes because the teachers can give you plenty of attention.

In the senior school the classes are like 5, 8, 10, 11, and 12. In English

the classes are about 14."

"The only thing about

the small size of the school is that it can be boring."

Bullying and racism

"There is also not

so much bullying at a small school. At a huge school people can get away

with bullying".

The school is a very

friendly place. At my other school there were lots of racist comments.

I haven't heard so many here.

Facilities

"The school has good

facilities, especially sporting facilities. The school has a good range

of subjects and I like the idea of music lessons because you get music

lessons for free and that is a good opportunity for people to come in

and learn."

"We do not have an

air conditioned gymnasium and we are one of the hottest towns."

Subject choice and

correspondence school

"If you want to do

subjects that are unusual like photography or childcare then you have

to do correspondence. This is harder because it's easier to understand

a teacher than a book."

"There is a good

range of subjects and if you can't do a subject at school you can do it

through Darwin correspondence school. Teachers will help you with correspondence

school and give you a free lesson. This makes a big difference. The teachers

will help you if you don't understand the books."

"There are some people

that do other subjects and they have to use the phone to get help. I study

Indonesian and there is a teacher here who speaks Indonesian. But it is

not the same for everyone and unless you have a teacher who is multi-talented

you have to rely on the phone."

"The problem with

correspondence is that it does make the subjects more difficult. I wanted

to take on economics but I was pretty much talked out of it because of

the lack of support. There's only so much that you can understand through

a phone line."

"Students should

be encouraged to do correspondence instead of being told that it is not

a good idea."

Excursions and travel

"Excursions are limited.

We do Legal Studies at the moment. We have to wait until the magistrate

comes over to Gove before we can go to court. We have to wait because

the magistrate only comes here every couple of months. We don't have the

opportunity to hear famous authors." "I do accounting and we don't have

many firms to visit and accounting should be a very hands-on subject.

We could go to the mine but that is about it."

"If we want to compete

in sports you have to travel to Darwin and it costs $300. Most people

can't afford that so for some there is no opportunity to compete. It used

to be $200 last year but now the Government does not have the money to

subsidise or something." "We have no inter-school competition."

"We have to travel

for music too. This costs a lot of money." "The opportunity is only there

if you pay your own way."

"I had to go to Alice

Springs but to get there I had to fly to Darwin and then take the bus

to Alice Springs. It still cost about $500 to $600."

"We would like more

funding to assist with the costs of travel for excursions. The school

council does help out but we need more."

Teachers

"We need teachers

who are multi-skilled. Because we are such a remote school, we need teachers

who can provide a range of subjects." Music teachers need to be able to

teach more than 2 instruments and a maths teacher should also be able

to teach science as well as maths."

"We would like some

specialist teachers. My music teacher does not play my instrument, the

oboe."

Computers

Almost all children

have computers at home. Not all have internet access at home due to the

costs.

"We have 2 computer

rooms with about 20 computers. There are also about 6 computers in the

English faculty. We are able to use the computers in our spare time to

play games." "We have an updated computer lab."

"We have access to

the internet through the Community Library. They have 2 computers where

you can get into the internet. At the school, the internet is too slow.

We pay a local call charge to use the internet."

Boarding school

"My father wanted

me to go to the boarding school because of the name of the school. I could

not adapt to it because of the snobbery of the school and I didn't like

boarding. I came back because I felt like I didn't fit in." I feel like

a bit of a failure because I wanted to succeed there. I have worked hard

back here to do well so that I can prove that this school is just as good."

I enjoyed boarding

and I adapted to boarding, but I was swamped by the number of subjects.

I felt like I was treated differently because of where I came from. Coming

back here I have had the opportunity to do things I would never have been

able to do at boarding school."

"A number of students

leave our school at Year 8 and a number leave at Year 10 for Years 11

and 12." "Kids who complete school here do better at university than kids

at the private schools."

Disabilities

"We have 2 kids at

the school in wheelchairs. We have ramps and the drains have been fixed

up so the wheels don't get stuck in them. At the primary school they have

a lift for the kids in wheelchairs." "The science labs have been changed

so that the kids in the wheelchairs can do their pracs with the rest of

us."

"We also had a blind

student about 5 years ago. Some of the school rules were changed so that

we had special places in the room where we had to leave our school bags."

"There is a learning

centre attached to the school for kids with learning disabilities. They

have new IMAC computers. They are also able to go out into the workforce

on work experience. They are also taught life skills and they have cooking

lessons every week. There are 2 kids who have disabilities, and then there

are mainstream kids who need special support who go to the Learning Centre."

Racial diversity

The secondary school

at Nhulunbuy predominantly caters for non-Aboriginal students. The school

at Yirrkala, approximately 40 kilometres away, does not offer a full secondary

school curriculum. Despite this, and the fact that a school bus runs between

the communities, there is only one Aboriginal student at Nhulunbuy High

School.

"There is one Aboriginal

student at the school. Aboriginal students have their own school at Yirrkala."

"In Year 8 we can

choose Indonesian or Aboriginal language and that is for half a year.

In Years 10 and 11 you can choose if you still want to go with it. You

have to do it then by correspondence."

Last

updated 2 December 2001.