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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.