Meeting with Kununurra District High School students, 17 May 1999 - notes
About 14 students, both boys and girls from grades 7-12 attended. They were asked to identify
- What they liked about their school
- What they disliked about their school
- What they would like to change about their school
The following issues were raised.
Physical environment
- Students like the trees and gardens in the school, and the easily accessible water fountains around the school grounds.
- "The water fountains are important because it's so hot and you need water."
- "All the rooms should be closer together. It's too spread out."
Music
- Students like the opportunities to study music. The school has a lot of musical instruments.
- "You ask the music teacher and show him you're interested in it and not going to muck around, and he gives you some basic music to start with and you just get better and better as you learn it. You do recorder first. He supplies the instruments. He's got about 30 guitars, 4 saxophones, clarinets . but he says its good if you've got your own."
- There is a school band in high school.
- The CROC Eisteddfod is being held in Kununurra in July. Schools from the region perform dance and theatre to music. Kununurra school will be doing a performance on the stages of life.
Sports
Students like:
- the good sports equipment at the school
- the sports carnival. They also compete against other schools once a year
- indoor cricket, basketball and athletics.
Some students wanted more alternatives in sport.
- "I think we should have other sports other than athletics. We don't have a footy team at the school." "There is Junior football in town but its not at school."
- "We have sports carnival and Champion Boy and stuff like that but I just think they should have something for the kids that aren't really good athletes because some kids can't run fast and can't throw a ball as far as some other people. It would be good if it wasn't all athletics for the kids that weren't really good at it."
- "The Champion Boy, the same kid gets it every time, because they always get the kid that can run the fastest. I think they should give it to the kid that tried the hardest, and didn't do so well but tried hard."
Subjects
Some students like having a variety of study options. For example,
- cooking
- metalwork and welding
- sports subjects
- Pastoral Care Program, where you can chose a range of activities. For example, in Years 11 and 12 there are clubs at school which students can join. One student participates in a police cadet program as part of Pastoral Care, and he learns navigation, abseiling, knot-tying etc.
Computer use
- The students like computer studies.
- "We like the computer room, which can be used in recess and lunch, because we don't have a computer at home. We can do our assignments."
- They use the computer sometimes for the internet. They have computer classes where they learn to use keyboards. If they are doing an assignment a teacher will show them how to use the internet. In some classes they have a roster to use the computer in the classroom.
- They would like more laptop computers. "More laptops at the school. You used to be able to take them home but then some of them got busted and we weren't allowed to use them."
- Students want more computers and more internet access. They have big Pentiums but not enough of them.
Distance education
- Some students in the group studied outside subjects through distance education. These were mostly Years 11 and 12, and were in subjects such as physics, chemistry, economics and calculus.
- One student liked distance education because he could study at his own pace.
- "I really like when you do outside subjects you can do them at your own pace, so you when you are cruising you can cruise and when you get into trouble you can just do it slow. Instead of what everyone in the whole class wants to do."
- It takes about 2-3 weeks for assignments to come back. Students can always ring the distance teachers. If the specific teacher isn't there someone else will help. If you can't get in contact with them, a student can always ask someone else doing the course. Other teachers at the school can also help if you are really stuck. Students also got a free period to study their subject.
- Japanese is the only language students can study as an option. One Year 12 student said he had studied Japanese by phone three times a week and it was pretty hard.
- Students who study distance education want more contact with their teachers in Perth. "We need more opportunity to see outside teachers down in Perth. We did go on a camp this year, and it was a good camp to go on. Very educational, it helps a lot if you see SIDE teachers." One student had heard that the funding for visits to Perth was going to stop. "I think they've taken the funding out of it. This was our last visit. But for year 11"s next year, I'm not sure what's going to happen."
Excursions
- Students liked school excursions and would like more of them.
- "We went to Darwin for the Reconciliation conference" (Aboriginal girl). Ten students went from the school.
- In Year 7 they go on a week-long camp to Batchelor, NT. Students have their own small dormitory. Activities include abseiling, rockclimbing, underwater hockey etc. Although everyone gets to go, "you have to be good up until then. If you are bad and get in trouble you can't go."
- The Year 7 excursion is expensive so the students fundraise. "We understand why it's expensive because we stay there for week and we have to pay for all our food." Most students attend. The students go to the local shopping centre and set up car washes, and do $100 boards to fundraise for the trip. "It helps with the food and the extra money."
"Going on" to Year 12 in Kununurra
- Students chose whether they want to do the Tertiary Entrance subjects in Year 10. There are only about 10 students in Year 12 and about 25 in Year 11. Only about 10 do TE courses. A few students leave for boarding school in Perth. Others leave school.
- Senior students are glad that they stayed in Kununurra instead of going away to boarding school, although a few of their friends had left to boarding school in Perth or Darwin. One student thought it would be good either way.
- "Their parents reckoned that they could get a better education and more opportunity if they were down south at a big boarding school, or with other relatives."
- One student went to boarding school for a year. "I actually went down there for Year 9 to boarding school and I thought it was quite different. The boarding part was quite fun, but the school teachers didn't have time for the kids and didn't really worry about you that much, especially compared to up here with such small classes."
- Senior students like the small classes. "Small classes are easy to learn. Not many kids. In English we have only five kids."
- "I went to Darwin High before we came here and it was huge, and then we came here and it was much easier to learn, you might only have 20 kids in your class but there is more opportunity to learn and teachers do really care about if you pass or not."
- Most students in the junior years preferred to stay in Kununurra. One student who is in Year 9 would like to stay in Kununurra but needs to do Year 11 and 12 to get into the job she wants to do. Others also want to stay. "All the people I know who've come back from boarding school I don't like".
- One student in Year 7 is going to Perth in Year 10 because her parents think she will get a better education. She is happy about that and is "looking forward to getting away" although she will miss her family.
Travel to school
Some students have to go to school by bus. For some of the students this was a half hour trip. Some buses go out to the communities and pick up children, for example from Lakeside. There is also bus that goes out to the border of NT to pick children up at about 6am.
Uniform
Senior students liked not having to wear a uniform. For younger students it is compulsory but as long as it is plain and you don't wear huge logos, it is not so strict.
Homework and workload
- One Year 7 student felt he got too much homework, especially in English, social studies and maths.
- Another year junior high school student felt under pressure from some teachers. "Some of the teachers, every minute of the day it's work, work, work. In the middle of the day you've gotta have some fun sometimes, but some teachers are so hard to please. Sometimes they expect too much."
Canteen food
- There are long queues at the canteen at recess and lunch. "Sometimes you wait all recess to get some food. You have about a minute to scoff it all down."
- Some students do not like the food at the canteen as they can only buy "healthy" food. There is no Coke, only juices. They also think the food is too expensive.
- "The Year 11 and 12s can go down the shop at lunch time, but the younger grades can't. You have to wait to Year 11."
School hours
- Some students think school starts too early (8am). Although school finishes as early as 2.10pm, it gets dark early in Kununurra.
- One student wanted longer recesses (currently 15 mins) and lunches (currently 30 mins). "I think you should extend recess and lunch so you can play basketball or whatever".
Other students
- "What I like is the other people at school."
- "Some of the students are mean." "We've got benches in Year 7 and there's this kid and some other kids and they think they're the boss and everything, and they try to take over the bench for all their friends."
Lockers
The students want lockers because they always carry around their heavy bags.
Senior school
"I'd make it just a high school, not a little kid's school. So you've got Year 10, 11 and 12, so we don't have to share resources and it can all go towards big kids."
Last updated 2 December 2001.
