Distance Education in Far North Qld,  A brief history.

Cairns School of Distance Education was formerly known as Cairns School of the Air.

Cairns School of the Air was established in 1972, with eleven pupils. The school offered HF radio lessons to children enrolled with the Primary Correspondence School in Brisbane. The Primary Correspondence School provided paper based learning materials to students who were geographically isolated (typically students who lived on remote cattle stations)

During the early years of the Cairns School of the Air, the enrolment steadily grew to a peak in 1986 of two hundred and eighty students and nine teachers. Activity days in various locations throughout the region, and an annual camp were introduced during this time, to help overcome isolation.

The regionalisation of distance education was commenced in 1987 with the opening of centres in Charters Towers and Longreach. The opening of the School of Distance Education in Charters Towers meant the loss of the majority of Cairns School of the Air students, with the enrolment dropping to a little over a hundred.

Cairns School of Distance Education

Cairns School of the Air was officially renamed a School of Distance Education in 1990. During this period, the teachers formerly attached to the Itinerant Teaching Service (teachers who travelled to remote areas to provide support and tutoring for students) were relocated to the staff of the Cairns school to assist with the provision of field support.

In 1993 the Cairns School of Distance Education moved from its home of the previous twenty years at the Royal Flying Doctor Service Cairns Base in Edge Hill, to new purpose built facilities in Hoare Street, Cairns. In 1993 the school offered a preschool program for the first time.

In 1995, the transition from a School of the Air to a full Preschool to Year 10 School of Distance Education was complete, as the school accepted Year 10 students for the first time. The school continued to expand its services over subsequent years and currently offers a full educational package from Prep to Year 12. It also provides LOTE (5 Languages) and Music services to many small rural and regional schools.

CSDE today

Communication with students has become more sophisticated and synchronous, with teachers using telephone, email, electronic discussion and project rooms and data conferencing to teach students and home tutors. Services have also continued to expand to better cater to the needs of our families, with Music Camps, Language Camps, Residential Schools, Artist in Residence programs, Technology Camps and Mini Schools held across the Cape. The school also offers ‘in home’ support for computer and peripheral maintenance and training programs for home tutors.

With a history based on the unique Australian educational innovation of School of the Air, all associated with this remarkable school continue to believe how special it is. The changing role of the school has allowed the needs of distance learners and other home based students and their families to be better catered for, whilst retaining the strong caring, family atmosphere evident throughout the school’s history.