Effort Conquers Distance

Effort Conquers Distance ... what a fitting motto for a Distance Ed school. It certainly applies in many ways. One of those is when you get called up Monday morning to be told that your Cluster on Friday has been cancelled  and 'could you come to the one on tomorrow?' Well we certainly put in the effort so that the kids didn't miss out. We left on Monday afternoon after plenty of effort in the schoolroom to make sure most of our work for the day was done before leaving. We put in heaps of effort by taking two vehicles and travelling roads bush tracks to conquer the distance between here and there.



Our roads if you can call them that.





The dirt roads on the properties we travelled through.

 We put in this effort so that the kids didn't have to get up at 4am to get to school. It was definitely well worth the effort of the quick pack up of school gear and personal belongings. Have I used effort enough?

The bitumen.

 So enough with the effort spiel. The kids (and we) loved not getting up super early to travel to school. They (the kids) spent Monday bouncing off the walls especially because we got to stay in town overnight. They were still brimming with excitement on Tuesday morning when they were busted peeking out the window at 6:30am. They were kept occupied with breakfast, drawing and getting ready to go until it was time to head to the bakery to pick up morning tea and lunch (yet another source of excitement).

We were able to arrive at the town hall at a leisurely pace and help set up while we waited for the teachers arrive. Excitement in the hall mounted while waiting and waiting and waiting, with kids trying to use up that energy by running around the hall and sliding on the super slippery floors. When the teachers started to trickle through the doors they were mobbed by children vying for their attention.

As the kids settled down to school the Home Tutors (parents and govies) settled in to a workshop/ meeting with the principle to discuss the school and what we want as well as what issues there are. After lunch it seems that everyone had the same idea as parents and govies mobbed IGA to do a quick top up shop before picking up the kids and heading home.   

Some photos from Cluster.

We all arrived back in time for an assembly where the children shared what they had done during the day. Then it was time to hurriedly have chats with teachers, say our goodbyes and pack new boxes of books and work into cars and travel home. In our case that was an almost 4hr trip over rough bitumen and even rougher dirt roads with tired kids who were full of stories and blaring music. It was certainly worth the effort.

Travelling back to the station.

Note: a Cluster is when all the students from a certain locality/ area gather and do school with their teachers. It means travelling for the teachers as well as families but it is closer for the families than going in to school (unless they are from that area). Our school has 5 different area Clusters each term (except 1st term). They are mostly in the same week so students have no on air lessons that week.