Nhulunbuy student meeting, 12 May 1999 - notes
The size of the school
Nhulunbuy High School offers Years 8 to 12 and has a total of 220 students. There is a lot of individual assistance for students due to the size of the school. "We have close relationships with teachers". "We have small classes which makes it easier to learn." Students believe that knowing all other children at the school is an advantage. The size of the school also gives students the opportunity to represent their school at sports carnivals and at meetings.
"In senior school the classes are very small which gives a better student teacher ratio." "The teachers care if you get your work in." "The teachers give freely of their own time, especially in the maths and sciences. They offer after school tutoring." The teachers also encourage you to be independent. "I like the smaller classes because the teachers can give you plenty of attention. In the senior school the classes are like 5, 8, 10, 11, and 12. In English the classes are about 14."
"The only thing about the small size of the school is that it can be boring."
Bullying and racism
"There is also not so much bullying at a small school. At a huge school people can get away with bullying".
The school is a very friendly place. At my other school there were lots of racist comments. I haven't heard so many here.
Facilities
"The school has good facilities, especially sporting facilities. The school has a good range of subjects and I like the idea of music lessons because you get music lessons for free and that is a good opportunity for people to come in and learn."
"We do not have an air conditioned gymnasium and we are one of the hottest towns."
Subject choice and correspondence school
"If you want to do subjects that are unusual like photography or childcare then you have to do correspondence. This is harder because it's easier to understand a teacher than a book."
"There is a good range of subjects and if you can't do a subject at school you can do it through Darwin correspondence school. Teachers will help you with correspondence school and give you a free lesson. This makes a big difference. The teachers will help you if you don't understand the books."
"There are some people that do other subjects and they have to use the phone to get help. I study Indonesian and there is a teacher here who speaks Indonesian. But it is not the same for everyone and unless you have a teacher who is multi-talented you have to rely on the phone."
"The problem with correspondence is that it does make the subjects more difficult. I wanted to take on economics but I was pretty much talked out of it because of the lack of support. There's only so much that you can understand through a phone line."
"Students should be encouraged to do correspondence instead of being told that it is not a good idea."
Excursions and travel
"Excursions are limited. We do Legal Studies at the moment. We have to wait until the magistrate comes over to Gove before we can go to court. We have to wait because the magistrate only comes here every couple of months. We don't have the opportunity to hear famous authors." "I do accounting and we don't have many firms to visit and accounting should be a very hands-on subject. We could go to the mine but that is about it."
"If we want to compete in sports you have to travel to Darwin and it costs $300. Most people can't afford that so for some there is no opportunity to compete. It used to be $200 last year but now the Government does not have the money to subsidise or something." "We have no inter-school competition."
"We have to travel for music too. This costs a lot of money." "The opportunity is only there if you pay your own way."
"I had to go to Alice Springs but to get there I had to fly to Darwin and then take the bus to Alice Springs. It still cost about $500 to $600."
"We would like more funding to assist with the costs of travel for excursions. The school council does help out but we need more."
Teachers
"We need teachers who are multi-skilled. Because we are such a remote school, we need teachers who can provide a range of subjects." Music teachers need to be able to teach more than 2 instruments and a maths teacher should also be able to teach science as well as maths."
"We would like some specialist teachers. My music teacher does not play my instrument, the oboe."
Computers
Almost all children have computers at home. Not all have internet access at home due to the costs.
"We have 2 computer rooms with about 20 computers. There are also about 6 computers in the English faculty. We are able to use the computers in our spare time to play games." "We have an updated computer lab."
"We have access to the internet through the Community Library. They have 2 computers where you can get into the internet. At the school, the internet is too slow. We pay a local call charge to use the internet."
Boarding school
"My father wanted me to go to the boarding school because of the name of the school. I could not adapt to it because of the snobbery of the school and I didn't like boarding. I came back because I felt like I didn't fit in." I feel like a bit of a failure because I wanted to succeed there. I have worked hard back here to do well so that I can prove that this school is just as good."
I enjoyed boarding and I adapted to boarding, but I was swamped by the number of subjects. I felt like I was treated differently because of where I came from. Coming back here I have had the opportunity to do things I would never have been able to do at boarding school."
"A number of students leave our school at Year 8 and a number leave at Year 10 for Years 11 and 12." "Kids who complete school here do better at university than kids at the private schools."
Disabilities
"We have 2 kids at the school in wheelchairs. We have ramps and the drains have been fixed up so the wheels don't get stuck in them. At the primary school they have a lift for the kids in wheelchairs." "The science labs have been changed so that the kids in the wheelchairs can do their pracs with the rest of us."
"We also had a blind student about 5 years ago. Some of the school rules were changed so that we had special places in the room where we had to leave our school bags."
"There is a learning centre attached to the school for kids with learning disabilities. They have new IMAC computers. They are also able to go out into the workforce on work experience. They are also taught life skills and they have cooking lessons every week. There are 2 kids who have disabilities, and then there are mainstream kids who need special support who go to the Learning Centre."
Racial diversity
The secondary school at Nhulunbuy predominantly caters for non-Aboriginal students. The school at Yirrkala, approximately 40 kilometres away, does not offer a full secondary school curriculum. Despite this, and the fact that a school bus runs between the communities, there is only one Aboriginal student at Nhulunbuy High School.
"There is one Aboriginal student at the school. Aboriginal students have their own school at Yirrkala."
"In Year 8 we can choose Indonesian or Aboriginal language and that is for half a year. In Years 10 and 11 you can choose if you still want to go with it. You have to do it then by correspondence."
Last updated 2 December 2001.
