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.