Praise for announcements

On June 16 Federation President Maree O'Halloran congratulated Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt's small schools announcement, but urged her to consider incorporating a Nationals' initiative.

"This is an issue that the Federation's Small Schools Committee has raised with both the Government and Opposition for a number of years and it is good news that the Government has recognised the need for a second adult in the 158 small schools in rural and regional NSW," Ms O'Halloran said.

"Two full time staff for small schools and certainty of staffing will be hailed by those school communities as a tremendous morale boost and recognition of the important role of the schools in their community.

"The Federation also acknowledges the promise made today by the Leader of the Nationals, Andrew Stoner, to provide extra teaching resources to schools with between 20 and 25 students. I would hope that the Government sees the worth of this proposal, as the 47 public schools in country NSW that have between 20 and 25 students enrolled would clearly benefit from the increased classroom teacher numbers or extra specialist aides employed on a part time basis.

"The combination of these two initiatives would make a significant difference to some of our smallest school communities and I urge the Minister to carefully consider incorporating the Nationals initiative," Ms O'Halloran said.

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Last Modified: 23 Jun 2006