Rural and Remote Education - SA
Rural and Remote
Education - SA
Public meeting in Port Lincoln,
10 August 1999 - notes
This Port Lincoln
meeting involved a discussion about the provision of educational services
for children with disabilities and the curriculum offerings for children
in the community.
Disability and primary
education
Port Lincoln has
3 primary schools: St Joseph's school, Port Lincoln Junior Primary School
and Lincoln Gardens Primary School. At Port Lincoln Junior Primary School
there is a small class of children with special learning needs. These
children are situated next to a mainstream classroom separated by a sliding
door. There is regular integration of the children across these classes.
After Year 2 the
children with special needs move from Port Lincoln Primary School to Curtain
Point. This is not an ideal situation for children who have difficulty
with change and work well with routine.
The Special School
at Port Lincoln is another option for children with disabilities. The
Special School in Port Lincoln is situated on the campus of Lincoln Gardens
Primary School. There is only one hour per week of integration with the
children from the main school.
"My child should
have the right to sports and the right to subjects such as religious education.
She is currently at the Catholic school for 6 hours per week for religion,
music and drama. At the Special School she would learn life skills like
washing and cooking, but she can learn that at home. It is far more important
for her to be integrated with her peers."
"The most important
skill for my child is the ability to relate with children her own age.
Ideally I would like her to attend primary school until Year 5 when she
can no longer keep up with the other children."
"The Curtain Point
School was only set up as an interim measure anyway. It looks like they
may close it. It was supposed to be a place where the children needing
special intervention could receive remedial support and then be referred
back to the main school or to the special school. I don't think this option
will be available for very long. It sounds like they don't want us to
have this option any more."
"I have had my child
in Callisthenics and I was told that other children were leaving the class
because they couldn't deal with my daughter. I thought about pulling her
out and then decided that she had a right to be there. She certainly got
the biggest clap at the performance and I'm not sure that it was because
of her timing."
Curriculum options
The two secondary
schools in Port Lincoln are Port Lincoln High School and St Joseph's Port
Lincoln. These schools both have areas of speciality and are able to resource
the children wanting to pursue particular curricula options. The High
school has an extensive music department and a recording studio. The Catholic
school has a well staffed language department.
"The schools should
be able to work together. St Joseph's has a pathetic music department
and the High School has a terrific department. The High School has very
limited second language offerings and we have a good language department.
I'd like to see a sharing of the resources."
"Pressure should
be put on the schools so that each child gets the best possible curriculum
offerings, the best teachers and the best resources."
"There is some sharing
between the schools but at this stage it is on a very small scale. We
might find that there are some zealots at the Catholic school who don't
want their children mixing with the State school kids but I think that
the priority should be the learning needs of the children."
Last
updated 2 December 2001.