April 3, 2012
Local community group PaCE (Parent and Community Engagement) recently randomly surveyed Cherbourg households to find out the attitudes of local residents towards education and schools.
A majority of those surveyed said they had either “loved” or “liked” school.
Some of the other comments: “Looking back you realise what you missed out on. I walked away because I thought there was nothing there for me but now I realise there was”.
The “deadly cool” message also seems to be having an impact.
Asked to complete the sentence” “It’s deadly to …”, a majority of respondents said either “stay at school”, “have knowledge” or “get an education and learn”.
The majority of those surveyed left school in Year 10 and all had attended South Burnett schools.
The respondents reflected that times had changed and school was now better than when they attended: “They love school, they want to go when they’re sick. That’s how much they love school”.
But there was also a message to schools. Cherbourg residents would like to see more parent / family participation in local schools, more Australian history taught from an Indigenous perspective and more “cultural stuff”.
Overall, though, they gave local schools a big “thumb’s up”.
The vast majority said schools were doing “a good job” and that they send their children to school “every day they can possibly go”. They agreed that sending their children to school every day increases the chances that they will have a happier future.
The best thing about school? “Learning”. The worst thing? “Fighting / bullying”.
And the best way to get more parents to send their children to school? “Talking to and encouraging parents.”
ABOVE RIGHT: Cherbourg State School teacher Peter Bakhash with student Noel Georgetown … PaCE have run a ruler over local community attitudes to school
