Brewarrina Public Meeting, 2 March 1999 - notes
Library facilities
"Our library is like a dinosaur. The level of resources is very poor. It is not a place that the children want to come to. This year we've started to rearrange things - we're trying to get the children to feel some ownership of the building. We want to turn them on to books and turn them on to reading so that we can aid their long term literacy and learning skills."
"The primaries come into the library on a regular basis because they have regular library classes. The secondaries are starting to come down and use the library. It's a big start to turning the secondary children around to see that we have a valuable asset in the school, that it's a place where they can come and that we're there to help them."
"The hurdle is the lack of resources and the lack of motivation of the children. They don't see that what we are doing will benefit them in the future."
"In a school of our size, the ratio of books to students should be something like 29 items in a library per student. We are a long way from even getting close to that ratio. Most of the stuff that's on the shelves we wouldn't expect our children to have to use. We have nothing to replace them with. We have to use what would have gone to the tip years ago. We are at a big disadvantage but we are working on it."
"We're looking at $20,000 to $30,000 to even get it (the library) up to scratch."
"We have a total collection of about 15 books per student."
"If I went in tomorrow and did a cull of what should have been off the shelf 5 years ago because it's falling apart, our collection would be about 5000 books. We'd lose probably half."
Technology
"We do have internet access in the school and we have a school bank of computers. There have been problems with the line access and we've also had problems with our operating systems which need to updated. It crashes regularly because of the power surges."
"Every time there is a power surge our main file server in the library goes down. In the last week there was one day where we had four. In some cases it means a complete recovery of the system. This is a big problem."
"This area isn't serviced very well for mobiles or for internet access."
"In Bourke High School they have a television and a video in every room. At the moment we have to wheel one television from one room to the other."
Teachers reported on Country Area Program initiatives based on the media. The program provides literacy support using video.
"Our children (from Brewarrina Central) are not used to technology and don't know how to use technology to further their education. We are trying to build up computer skills from kindergarten to Year 6. The computers that we have in the classroom are not modern. We've got modern computers in the computer lab but not in the classroom, so you can't access all the new software on CD-Rom which makes it more difficult to incorporate it into your teaching because you don't have the technology that you need in the classroom."
Discipline
"The children from Brewarrina Central will push you to the limits every single day. This makes it harder to teach and it makes it harder to help the children because you are constantly trying to motivate them and get their interest."
Retention to secondary school in Brewarrina
"My daughter is a very sensitive child. I know if I ask her to go into Year 7 over at the Central School she would die within four or five weeks. She's not a child that takes hard knocks and it would be really hard for her to fit in over there. Also she's someone that gets on her high horse if people aren't doing the right thing. She could not cope with what goes on in the classes. If I asked her to go there it would be devastating for her. It would ruin everything about her."
"Behaviour plays a big part in why parents don't send their children to Brewarrina Central."
"The long term locals have this perception of what Brewarrina Central's like. It just seems to be a thing (send their children away) that they've always done."
"That's not particular to Brewarrina. Some families have a tradition of sending their children away."
"As a parent you want what's absolutely best for your child."
Sport
"The only sport for children is a new netball competition and swimming club. The aim of this town sporting taskforce is to try and get netball and football going as a start. In April we hope to have a big gala day and have an Aboriginal player for Australia come down."
Cultural Awareness
"We need to develop cultural awareness. We are all white teachers and we are teaching Aboriginal kids. I am very committed to this. We need to know and to understand and respect them and love them as we do our own white children. I would like to see more Aboriginal teachers."
"We had 19 new staff last year. We had a formal induction program that was funded by the Department of Education. It was a trial. We had beginning teachers working with mentors, the week before school started (which didn't work out very well because not all of the staff were appointed before school started). We talked to them about professionalism, about Aboriginal education, took them to the Cultural Museum, and had a lot of parents come in and speak. For the next school development day we had a whole day where people came in and talked about where they came from, and their educational expectations and experiences."
"From K-10 we have a step by step program for Aboriginal cultural awareness and we also encourage the teachers to embed this Aboriginal culture in their teaching programs."
"The biggest problem that we have is that we are white people teaching Aboriginal kids and we've got 97.5% Aboriginal kids. We are constantly raising teachers' awareness of where these kids come from. We can only try to understand. The teachers that are experiencing the most success at our school are the ones that get out and meet families."
"Last year for our secondary students we had a bush camp."
The strategy of having days where Aboriginal people take white staff fishing at the beginning of the year was discussed. "It is a real measure of people trusting you in this town if they tell you where their fishing holes are."
Health
"Some of the kids have hearing problems and sight problems and we need people out here to do something about it."
"Through community health we have ears and eyes done every year. The AMS provides a nurse to come several times a week, but it doesn't happen regularly."
"In some cases the problem is finding the personnel that are trained."
"There's a lack of personnel, and funding runs out and programs get discontinued. There's a lack of staff and a lack of training. Maybe it's a matter of community health and the AMS and the hospital getting together and sharing resources."
Transition
"I look at curriculum issues as well as long term issues such as a student's ability to look after themselves, to fit into the society, to plan their education, to take an interest. My role is to support schools in that transition from school to work."
"I am looking for support for work experience type programs where local people can take kids on. We are looking at students from year 7 to year12." Experience of work was said to contribute to students' positive attitude towards school.
"We are training careers staff and special education staff."
"I have a very firm belief that all parents have similar aspirations for their children. They want them to succeed. They want them to be part of the community."
School and community
"Independence is a wonderful thing and it's probably something that the school system doesn't recognise. Some of those kids are independent from the moment they walk. And self-sufficient in a lot of ways. That independence is sometimes at loggerheads with the school system. It's early days in education for Aboriginal kids I believe."
"Public schools are obliged to accept any child. Society is becoming increasingly complex. We are seeing students with complex family lives. The main support mechanism for these students may be in the school."
Performance
"The data that's coming through by the Department of School education is that the kids that had their basic skills test in 1989 that were in Year 10 last year are showing a significant improvement."
"I take heart in the fact that our one year 12 student last year did so brilliantly. It's actually lifted the spirits of a lot of the kids."
Last updated 2 December 2001.
