Rural and Remote Education - Tasmania
Rural
and Remote Education - Tasmania
Queenstown secondary students
meeting, 4 November 1999 - notes
Murray High School
students met with the inquiry at Queenstown. Murray High School is the
only secondary school on the West Coast. Students from Zeehan and Strahan
travel to Queenstown to attend this school. A number of secondary aged
students from the West Coast go to boarding school for their secondary
education.
Students at Murray
High School wanted more subject choices and more options to study the
arts. The students also felt that there was a lack of social activity
with other schools.
The buses
A number of difficulties
with school transportation were raised in the meeting. Many students spend
8 hours per week on the school bus. In order to get to school on time,
students from Zeehan and Strahan have to catch the bus at approximately
7am. This was considered to be too early for most. The travelling students
complained that they had no time for breakfast. As a potential solution
to this problem, the students suggested a change to the school starting
hours to allow time for travel.
'The buses are gross
and the bus drivers are mean. The buses are dirty and there is too much
travelling. The drivers just sit there swearing and beeping the horn.'
'I leave my house
at 7am and then I get home at 4pm. I spend 8 hours a week travelling when
I could be spending that time doing much better things. It cuts into your
homework time too and we all get really tired.'
'Every now and then
the buses break down. And the other thing is that if you miss the bus
you don't get to go to school. My dad just takes off in the morning and
if you're not ready he goes without you because if you're not there for
the bus it will go without you.'
Sporting and social
activities
'We don't get to
play any sport with any other schools. No-one comes here. We don't have
any sports teams. There's nothing really.'
Teachers
'We get all the young
teachers and they are pretty bad here because they force them to come
here in their first years of teaching. They are not as qualified as the
other teachers and this has an effect on you because you don't feel like
you're worth it. They stay for just as long as they have to and then they
go after 3 years.'
Breakfast club
'They used to have
a breakfast club for the kids who had to get up really early, but they
have stopped doing that. I think it was the same old story, there was
no money.'
Retention
'Most students don't
go to school because they hate the teachers. The teachers are so strict
and they don't make it fun. Kids just hang around on the streets and there
are some drugs as well.'
Last
updated 2 December 2001.