Beyond the Line - Days 1 & 2
Well - what a week! I have just come home from the Beyond the Line trip to the New England Region.
Beyond the Line is a program run by the NSW Department of Education and Universities around the state. It aims to promote teaching in rural areas by sending university students, training in education, to schools in rural areas for a week to experience what it is like.
We left early Monday morning from UTS and began our 9 hour bus ride to Moree. It went quite quickly for me. I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows most of the way up and slept for a little while between Sydney and our first stop on the F3.
We arrived in Moree around 4:30pm and had a bit of time to relax before heading off to dinner at the RSL. Dinner was fun - we spent time talking to people from the DET up in the New England Region. I learnt a lot and started to get excited about going to Boggabilla.
Tuesday morning again started early with breakfast at 7am and leaving for Boggabilla just before 8am. We stayed at the Mehi River Van Park in Moree. It was quite nice :) I would return.
That there is the van park and the cabin I stayed in. It was very sufficient. There were 2 rooms, one adjoining the kitchen, the other the bathroom.
So back to the journey to Boggabilla. I was going with Ainslee (primary), Kristy (PE High school) and Luisa (maths High school). We were taken by Di from the DET. She’s the officer for Aboriginal Education in the New England Region.
We stopped in Moree on the main street briefly before we left at the Café Omega to get coffee. I was glad for the caffeine hit!
Then off we went to ‘Bogga’! The trip was mostly straight road at 130km/h and flat flat flat! I saw a mirage - I was pretty stoked by that! Apparently on the road out to Boggabilla you have to be careful of Kangaroos. They re the greatest hazard on the roads and cause the most accidents out there! They totally mangle cars.
It was funny on the trip. Di was telling us a few things about the area and said “That’s one of our schools, North Star, out there, to the right”. So, naturally, we all looked. Di laughed and said “66kms inland!”. We all had a good chuckle about that.
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(The road out to Bogga) (Boggabilla housing)
Boggabilla is situated 10kms from Goondiwindi (QLD). Although it might be only 10kms - it might as well be 100kms given the difference between the towns. Boggabilla is nearly 100% Indigenous population. The town has 4 places to go - the Town and Country Club, the Butcher, the IGA (although expensive) and the Wobbly Boot (PUB). It is also home of the Euraba Paper Mill. We had a little drive through the main street of Bogga before arriving in the school.
Boggabilla Central School is a school for children in preschool to TAFE. There is also a playgroup a few times a week catering for those in the 0-4 year old age group. The school has an enrollment of around 150 students and the enrollment is 100% aboriginal students. The school grounds are extensive (much to my surprise). Each primary class is arranged by stage and there is one teacher per stage (although there are many tutors and support teachers available).
When we arrived at BCS (Boggabilla Central School) we piled out of the car into the office and met some of the office staff and Jackie who was looking after our stay at BCS. After this we went and chatted to Denise, the principal, and found out general information about the school (e.g. the school’s attendance is at approx 65% of the students enrolled). Jackie then took us on a brief tour of the school, introducing us to people left, right and centre!
I was really surprised by the school being the social centre of the town. The school shows movies for the community and has discos etc.
After lunch, where I had a delicious meat pie we went to Toomelah mission school. I didn’t realise at the time, but apparently it’s an honour to go. I think we were probably allowed because Jackie is a rural area relief teacher and she does some work at Toomelah school. It was really interesting to see and I’m going to do some more research on it and maybe write some up here. We only spent a few minutes there though before going back to Boggabilla where we played with the smart board and went to classrooms. I went with the 5/6 class. They were working on mapping. As soon as I walked in kids had their hands up asking for my help!
After school we had a staff meeting and then Megan, the ES1 teacher took us to Goondiwindi. I was really excited to cross the border! We did a bit of wandering around and I bought some batteries for my camera and some munchies. We then went back to “The Compound” (teacher housing) where Ainslee, Kristy and Luisa were staying. Jackie had organised a BBQ to welcome us so all the teachers turned up around 6pm.
It was quite odd though, some kids turned up in our driveway to come play for a bit! Up in Bogga the kids walk the streets till all hours of the night. They love to come and see the teachers so they came around. I found that strange, but cool.
(“Gundy”)
THe BBQ was good - I left around 9pm and went back to my place. I was staying with a guy called Richard - the History, English and Geography secondary teacher. The accommodation at his place (also teacher housing) was pretty good. I settled in pretty quickly and went to sleep. His 7.5 year old Kelpie helped with that! She is very affectionate.
(“Miggs” or Miggins”) (My Bed)
(Richard’s Backyard)
Friday, 27 July 2007
