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.
