February 7, 2014
Life has turned full circle for Melanie Ludke who has literally “come home” with her appointment as principal at Tanduringie State School.
Melanie, who took up her position at the beginning of this term, attended the tiny school herself from Years 1-7.
She grew up at nearby Pimpimbudgee where her parents have a cattle property.
After leaving Tanduringie School in 1995, Melanie went on to Yarraman P-10 and then finished her last two years of high school at a boarding school in Toowoomba.
After graduating from the University of Southern Queensland she started teaching at Mt Isa where she worked as a field teacher for the School of the Air for five years, visiting students at home on properties from Birdsville to the Gulf of Carpentaria and into the Northern Territory.
“Working more closely with families like this helps a lot when you’re working in smaller schools,” she said.
After Mt Isa, Melanie transferred back to the South Burnett in 2010 where she worked for a year at Taabinga State School before heading off to Thargomindah State School as principal for three years.
When she heard the position at Tanduringie was open, she applied for the transfer … and came home.
Tanduringie is a three-teacher school with multi-age classes.
Melanie teaches Year 6-7. Former principal Vicki Gorton – who received a National Excellence in Teaching Award (NEiTA) last year – looks after Prep-Year 2. Megan Livingstone has Years 3-4-5.
There are 43 students at the moment.
“When I went through there were 17 and we only had a teaching principal. The school has grown a lot over the years,” Melanie said.
The Tanduringie school community is a close-knit family but in Melanie’s case this is really the case as her nieces and nephews are among the students.
“This community is just wonderful and the kids are awesome,” she said.
“This makes it so much easier to transition into a new job.”
Another new member of the Tanduringie State School family to start this year is cleaner Darryl Stone, a very important part of the team according to Melanie.
Also new at Tanduringie State School this year is an “eKindy” program for pre-preppies.
Melanie said four students and their mums meet three times a week to work through a program delivered remotely by the Brisbane School of Distance Education using the school’s facilities.
“eKindy is popular with a lot of country families,” Melanie said.
And while everything is going well at the moment, there could be worries ahead for Melanie at the end of this year.
Like all Queensland schools, Tanduringie will be losing Year 7 next year. This means the current class of eight Year 6s will be going directly to either Yarraman or Nanango schools.
The school is already just under the level for three teachers – which means the school is topping up with its own funds – but the sudden loss in Year 7 numbers may push Tanduringie well under the level and mean it may have to drop back to a two-teacher school unless a few new families move into the area.
