by Rachel Wynberg

When it was time for our eldest daughter Anastasia (aged 5) to begin Prep, we carefully chose a school and enrolled her. As the time drew closer for her to start school, we felt it just wasn’t the right decision for us and for our children.  We wanted to provide a ‘holistic’ learning approach that focused more on our children as individuals and allowed flexibility to cater to their individual interests and ’smarts’. We were keen on the idea of home schooling but we felt, for our children and ourselves, we needed a curriculum as well as the guidance and support of professionally trained teachers. After much research we discovered Cairns School of Distance Education. From the moment we met Richard, the principal, we knew that Cairns SDE was right for us. In our initial conversation we constantly heard the terms, ‘focused on the individual’, ‘catering to individual learning styles’, and ‘part of the community’.

At Cairns SDE, we experience a real sense of community, even though we don’t see each other every day. We spend Orientation days, mini-schools, camps and sports days together - not just the students but also the home tutors. At these events we work on improving our skills, receiving support in our roles and sharing many laughs and a few tears. There are also Science boot camps, artists in residence programs and even a school band! There is no limit to the choices that our students have in their education at CSDE. We have the benefit of a supportive school community as well as a comprehensive academic and extra curricular program.

We couldn’t wish for a better group of people to educate our children. The teachers and support staff are not only exceptionally professional, but are also caring individuals who guide and facilitate us on the exciting journey of home schooling.

We are thankful everyday for the gift we have been given in the Cairns School of Distance Education and look forward to our continuing journey.