Schools
In February 2004 there were 139 public and non-governmental schools in Canberra; 96 were operated by the Government and 43 were non-Government. Most suburbs are planned to include a primary school and schools are usually located near open areas for play and sports. Children begin formal schooling at primary school in February when they are five or six. Primary school consists of seven grades: kindergarten and years 1 to 6. From years 7 to 10 children attend high school, generally a different institution to their primary education.
Students in years 11 to 12 attend college (except for private schools where most students stay on at school for year 11 and 12 some choose to go to state colleges) and normally study five to six courses over two years. Certificates are awarded on the basis of continuous assessment of students' progress at the end of years 10 and 12 by the ACT Department of Education and Training. Year 12 students wishing to pursue tertiary study must sit the ACT Scaling Test (AST) as part of a required Tertiary Entrance Statement. The ACT Scaling Test is used to scale the results of schools relative to each other rather than affecting the marks of individuals directly. It is based on students' general knowledge, critical and analytical skills. Traditionally students intending to pursue a trade have ended their schooling at the end of high school in order to take up an apprenticeship. In recent years it has become common for students with no tertiary education plans to continue through year 11 and 12 in an accredited scheme.
In 2005 there were 60,275 students in the ACT school system. 59.3% of the students were enrolled in government schools with the remaining 40.7% in non-government schools. There were 30,995 students in primary school, 19,211 in high school, 9,429 in College and a further 340 in special schools.
The ACT has the highest retention rate in Australia with 89% of the number of students who were enrolled in year 7 in 1999 were enrolled full-time in year 12 in 2004. This retention rate has declined from a peak in 1994 when the rate was nearly 5% more, probably because of poor job prospects for young people at that time compared with 2004.
During 2006 the ACT Government announced closures of up to 39 schools, to take effect from the end of the school year. After a series of consultations the Government announced its "Towards 2020: Renewing Our Schools" plan that closed ten schools at the end of 2006 with more in 2007 and 2008, while consolidating school campuses and opening other schools through to 2010. The Government paid $750 ‘transitional funding’ to students whose schools have closed, provided they attended another government school, to facilitate provision of new school uniforms.
The communities associated with Cook Primary School and Flynn Primary School lodged appeals through the ACT Supreme Court. While Cook withdrew its appeal within a week, Flynn's appeal is still ongoing, with the community having raised $50,000 for security of costs.
Read more about this topic: Education In The Australian Capital Territory
Famous quotes containing the word schools:
“Our good schools today are much better than the best schools of yesterday. When I was your age and a pupil in school, our teachers were our enemies.
Can any thing ... be more painful to a friendly mind, than a necessity of communicating disagreeable intelligence? Indeed it is sometimes difficult to determine, whether the relator or the receiver of evil tidings is most to be pitied.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“In America the taint of sectarianism lies broad upon the land. Not content with acknowledging the supremacy as the Diety, and with erecting temples in his honor, where all can bow down with reverence, the pride and vanity of human reason enter into and pollute our worship, and the houses that should be of God and for God, alone, where he is to be honored with submissive faith, are too often merely schools of metaphysical and useless distinctions. The nation is sectarian, rather than Christian.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“To me, nothing can be more important than giving children books, It’s better to be giving books to children than drug treatment to them when they’re 15 years old. Did it ever occur to anyone that if you put nice libraries in public schools you wouldn’t have to put them in prisons?”
—Fran Lebowitz (20th century)