MORE than 140 teachers across NSW have responded to reports of violence in Walgett's troubled high school by offering to mentor, help or relieve teachers.
NSW department of education secretary Michele Bruniges said the department had been inundated with offers, and was considering how to implement a mentoring program for the many young teachers at the school.
As she announced changes to the school's management structure to improve stability and academic results, a 17-year-old Walgett student Victor Kennedy said nobody had thought to ask the students what they wanted.
"We'd like more programs," he said. "They should ask the children what they want to make it a better place," he said. "You are suppose to come to school to learn and listen and go to classes. And kids - who abuse our teachers - why do they come to school?" he asked. Mr Kennedy said there had been more fights in the school this week.
On Tuesday, only 40 children out of the total school population of 100 attended school, including only half of Mr Kennedy's year 12 class. Attendance ranges between 50 and 60 per cent despite the efforts of six paid attendance officers who visit homes to urge children to attend school.
In a first for the NSW Department of Education, an external head hunter has been asked to scout for two new principals to head Walgett's troubled high school and the local primary school.
"The future of the town depends on us building a very strong education system," said Ms Bruniges, who was in town last week when two brawls erupted at the school in the rural and remote town in northwest NSW.
Ms Bruniges has been in Walgett nearly every week for the past month to discuss ways to re-engage students, improve attendance, provide support to teaching staff, and consult with the broader community.
Ms Bruniges foreshadowed a range of changes to address problems in the troubled and often violent school, where attendance and academic results have been low. In addition to the existing executive principal, who has in the past run the primary school campus in town as well, a new primary principal will be appointed.
Fifteen-year-old student Teliyah Hickey-Tuhura, said she had been one of only two students in her year 10 class this morning.
Ms Hickey-Tuhura, who topped her year in maths and won the town's art prize, said she hoped to move to Sydney to study in Year 11 and year 12.
When asked what she wanted to do later in life, she replied "I just want to move out of this town." She said the violence at school, and the long running disputes between some children, was stressful.
"It just stressed me out," she said when asked about the violence at the school last Monday.
Ms Bruniges said she planned to introduce a new charter of expectations that set out clear and high expectations for students, parents, teachers and the community. It would also spell out what sort of behaviour was unacceptable and the consequences.
"Having a set of expectations that everyone is clear on, students, staff and community is critically important," she told Fairfax Media. "It isn't clear at this point in time. And we need to apply that set of expectations consistently. So everyone has the same message: If you come to school, it is a place of learning, it is not a gathering place."
Ms Bruniges said her goal was looking at ways to reengage students, whether within the existing school structure or through other pathways such as TAFE or elsewhere. This may include broadening the curriculum so students had a greater choice of subjects. For example, children who were interested in physics, which is not offered at the school of just over 100 students, may be offered a virtual link with schools that do offer it.
The local Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee (AECG), which has been accused of undermining former principals and teachers and has been criticised for not representing the wider community including many Aboriginal families, had been told to consider changes to make its membership more representative.
"The community groups do not run education, the department does," she said, responding to criticism that the Aboriginal Advisory Education Committee that advises the school has not represented the broader community's interest.
"My view is we do have a challenging situation, and we each need to step up to the plate. And my personal involvement to be able broker out a new set of expectations, and relationships and look at the pathways to see that these students are getting the best outcome they can. "
"It is really important to have high expectations for these students. And to make sure the ground rules are clear. And what the consequences are of not complying with those ground rules," she said.
She attributed the cause of recent violence to a range of issues, including staff turnover at the school, which has had more than a dozen principals in the past 10 years.
"Education is the backbone of what we need to do, and the thing that I have control over, is the education," she said.
