Port Douglas State School, running through the generations
Port Douglas State School, running through the generations
Wednesday April 30 2014, 2:35pm
The Caswell family have more in common than just their genes. They also have a family tradition of being educated at Port Douglas State School.
Katrina Caswell started in Grade 7 when she arrived from Groote Eylandt, NT to Port Douglas. Her children Taliesha (aged 11) and Hayden (aged 8) are now following in her wake.
Katrina recalls that the school was so different then. It consisted of one main building, that luckily enough contained the tuck shop and there were only about 15 children in each class.
Sports that Katrina played were basketball and running, which she enjoyed the most.
The highlight of the year was a school visit to Tinaroo where they would enjoy exciting activities like abseiling. Katrina’s daughter is due to go on the same trip this year!
Facilities like a computer room weren’t even a twinkle in the developer’s eyes and there certainly were no Austart programs run through the school.
Rocking up to school in bare feet or wearing thongs was accepted and the atmosphere was local, small and intimate, with everybody knowing everybody. The bare foot rule was only changed two years ago!
Her best friend in Year 12 was Kristie Clifford who now lives in Bruges, Belgium but Kristies sister still lives in Port and her children attend the school.
Taliesha says that she has seen many changes since in her time at the school, with many new buildings having been constructed, not least the new cyclone shelter. But with these new buildings come new facilities like the computer room, so she is pleased with the expansion.
Taliesha’s favourite lesson is Japanese, a language, that Mum only had access to in Senior School. Like her Mum she enjoys running and as Sport’s Captain is following a well-trodden athletic path.
Hayden’s favourite subject is maths and of course sport with running and AFL heading his list.Introduction of AFL is another new sport since Mum was at school. Under the auspices of AusKick the under 8’s have the choice to play AFL as an extra-curricular activity.
Taliesha’s teachers are Mr Barnes and Mr Ally both of whom she likes. Mr Barnes, “has a sarcastic wit and is a good teacher” and Mr Ally “is very nice and fun.
”Hayden has Miss Kim and Miss Johnson as his teachers. With Miss Kim being aboriginal in descent, the children are learning about the local ways of the Kuku Yalanji tribe through creative painting and eating bush tucker. Mum, Katrina. only started to learn about the aboriginal way of life in senior school.
Katrina also knew Miss Kim from when she was at school and was in classes with her younger siblings.
The school might now have doubled in size, with classes of 30, but it still maintains its personal and intimate feel, with all the school teachers knowing all the pupils’ names.
It was this small, personal community feel that Katrina said was one of the main reasons the family now live in Port Douglas. With Taliesha and Hayden starting in kindergarten and having the same friends all the way to Mossman Senior there is a real sense of the community growing up with your friends around you.
She feels that in 25 years the school has come a long way and is impressed how they are always striving to make it better. She credits Ben Gaske, the headmaster, for spearheading this movement in keeping the school fresh and alive.
Perhaps Katrina in years to come will yet see her grandchildren make it a third generation!
