FOR Port Hedland mother Helena Lewis, last week’s news has left her entire family facing an uncertain future beyond the next school year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Ms Lewis is based 240 kilometres north of Port Hedland, where she is involved in her family business at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park.
Before last week’s announcement, Ms Lewis planned to continue educating her seven-year-old son through Port Hedland School of the Air (SOTA) and her 15-year-old daughter at Central Midlands Senior High School, where she boards at Moora Residential College.
Without SOTA and the Moora Residential College in 2019, Ms Lewis is considering relocating to ensure her children can continue their schooling with minimal disruptions.
“It’ll mean either leaving the area or finding my daughter a new school which I don’t really want to do because she starts Year 11 in 2019,’’ Ms Lewis said.
“I don’t particularly want to be pulling her out and starting her somewhere new because it’s such an important couple of years for her education.
“It sort of leaves it too late to even think about if I wanted my daughter to change schools next year because all the schools are shut so I can’t get any indication as to whether they’ve got places available for her.
“If I had to move to Moora it would mean moving away from my family home, finding a new job and my family would have to find someone to replace my position at the caravan park which isn’t easy in rural places.
“As for my son, who is in Port Hedland SOTA, I’m not happy about moving to School of Isolated Distance Education (SIDE), mainly because he will miss out on the social side of things more so than anything.
“We would get at least four school camps a year for the kids to be involved in and interact with other kids in SOTA, so that will be a big loss because my son is the only child at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park and he really values those camps for socialising.
“I did SOTA, my daughter did too, as well as my brothers and sisters – Port Hedland SOTA has been a big part of the family and it has been great.”
The Lewis family will also be affected by the government’s cuts to the Boarding Away from Home Allowance (BAHA), set to kick in next year.
Ms Lewis said the announcements blind-sided the family, the Port Hedland community and other regional parents and students who were offered no consultation.
“At the end of the day there has been no personal contact from anyone besides principals and the head supervisor at the hostel, only a letter that is addressed to all parents,” Ms Lewis said.
“It has been a big shock to everyone because no one seemed to know about it until the last minute.”
Education Minister Sue Ellery said it was normal for announcements to be made without stakeholder consultation because the cuts were a “budget decision”.
Ms Ellery said affected students, parents, staff and communities would be consulted next year.
