A small remote school in the Gulf Savannah has welcomed in the new school year with record student enrolments, a new kindergarten program and a special birthday.
Mt Surprise State School is 96km east of Georgetown and some 285km southwest of Cairns, but its remote location is no impediment.
This year, the school launched a kindergarten program, part of Education Queensland’s Remote Kindergarten Pilot.
The pilot complements the highly successful distance kindergarten program, eKindy, by offering families a choice when eKindy may not be suitable. It started in 2016 and has been continued and expanded in 2017.
Mt Surprise School principal Bridget Greensill said the school was quick to jump on board.
“We have two children who started kindy this year,” Ms Greensill said.
“It’s so important. We have a huge community out here of little people and the only access they had was eKindy.
“Early years is so important and we couldn’t get on board fast enough.
“The program is run in conjunction with school, and offered five days a fortnight. I have employed a teacher aide who helps me run the program.
“It’s a play-based program, and it’s very important they get into the school and access everything that all the town kids do.”
Of the 36 schools participating in the pilot in 2017, nine of these are located in the North Queensland region, including Mt Surprise. A further seven schools are located in the Far North Queensland region.
The two kindy kids have helped boost the school’s 2017 enrolments to 22 – believed to be the highest student intake in the school’s history.
“The oldies in town tell me this is a record,” Ms Greensill said.
“As you can imagine, for a town like Mt Surprise this is unbelievable. When I started here two and a half years ago there were 11 children enrolled.
Ms Greensill said the parent community appreciated the wide and varied activities the school offered, including sporting and extra-curricular activities.
“Families jumped on board, knowing that their kids can participate in all that sort of stuff,” Ms Greensill said.
“I think families found distance education very difficult to teach.
“I have families that come 200km round trip each day.”
Ms Greensill said Mt Surprise was “a small school with a very big heart”.
“The kids are the heart of our school and we have the most fantastic families,” she said.
“Our school logo is a gemstone and that’s exactly what this school is.”
Enrolments in 2018 are already looking to surpass this year’s record, with 25 students booked from kindergarten to year 6.
If a new kindergarten program and record enrolments wasn’t enough to celebrate, both come at a time of another major milestone – the school’s centenary, which will be celebrated on 17 February.
A birthday party will be held on 18 April. For more information, call Stacey Prior on 4062 5148.
