“That ICPA Qld continues to lobby the Department of Education (DoE) and relevant State Ministers to expand the current eligibility for Living Away From Home Allowances Scheme (LAFHAS) during the Bypass Procedure Review to include Year 10 students in P-10 schools that are not classified as bypass schools.”
Springsure Rolleston Branch would like to express our gratitude to ICPA Qld for their ongoing efforts in engaging with the Department of Education on the inclusion of Year 10 in the bypass school program for P-10 schools. The role of year 10 has changed since it has been made part of senior schooling. Year 10 plays a critical role in preparing students for a successful transition into the more academic subjects.
There are two issues we would like to address:
1.
In many schools, students are required to do pre-requisite core subjects in year 10 before being able to select subjects for years 11 & 12. For example, students need to choose advanced maths (extension maths, maths 10.2) to be able to do maths methods in years 11 and 12. Specific science content needs to be studied in year 10 so the student is capable of studying physics and chemistry in years 11 and 12 (science 10.2). Some schools also require pre-requisite in year 10 to enable the studying of some elective subjects in years 11 and 12.
In Year 10, all subjects begin to adopt specialised elements of the senior curriculum and assessment – specific assessment techniques and skill development activities – that bridge the gap between junior and senior school. In changing year 10 to senior schooling, schools have refined their curriculum pathways and perhaps inadvertently excluded students due to government policy not keeping up.
This can be life altering if students are not provided these subject opportunities in year 10. The flow on effect of not having access to these pathways inhibits their future career and university opportunities and choices. (Please see appendix A[1] & B[2] - two curriculum pathway examples)
[1] https://media.digistormhosting.com.au/sbc-au-qld-222-website-2023/content/Teaching-and- Learning/Handbooks/Middle-School-Curriculum-Handbook-2025.pdf
[2] https://www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au/learning/secondary
Figure 1 - Appendix A - Curriculum Pathway - St Brendan’s College
Figure 2 - Appendix B - Curriculum offerings - St Margaret's
2.
Children are not being afforded the opportunity to reach their full potential and are therefore academically discriminated against because of financial barriers.
Regardless of distance to a school that offers the pre-requisite subjects, the financial burden of educating your children and providing them with the best opportunities and career pathways creates extreme stress and anxiety on families. For example – Springsure is 75kms from the closest school that offers a larger range of subjects. Emerald State High school has well over 1000 students. The Catholic school (Marist) has a waiting list. Due to Springsure not being a bypass school, if you choose to send your child to Emerald, you must pay for the bus. Many families live outside of Springsure which is the extra travel burden of transporting their kids to the Emerald bus by 7.15am with a cost of approximately $480/child/term.
If boarding school is the only option to pursue subject selection, families are forced to pay the full cost of both tuition and boarding which for many is unattainable.
In conclusion, students that don’t have the financial resources to go away to another school in grade 10 and that stay in a local p-10 school, no matter how academically gifted they are, are not afforded the opportunity to study the subjects they require and are forced into a stream which limits them to life altering choices.
Case Study
We have 3 boys currently aged 10, 14, 16. All have attended Springsure State School since beginning their schooling. As we have no choice other than to send our children away for Years 11 and 12 our oldest son has been enrolled to do Year 11 at St Brendan’s College. Our other 2 sons are intending to go the same way with their senior year of schooling.
As Year 10 is now considered a senior year and the subject selection begins in Year 10, we believe that it would be more beneficial to have our children start their schooling away in Year 10. We are concerned that our son may already be at a disadvantage as Springsure cannot offer him the subjects he needs to follow his chosen vocational pathway. Also, financially, it would not be possible for us to send all 3 children away in Year 10 without the help of subsidies. The likes of which are offered for Years 11 and 12.
In our opinion the benefits of Year 10 being included in the bypass school program include, but are not limited to, having access to subjects and pathways appropriate to what they require in Years 11 and 12. We believe that having that continuity of learning from the beginning of the subject selection in Year 10 through to Year 12 would give them the best opportunities to succeed.
As well as academically, there is also the mental aspect of going away. It is important to us that our children are happy and healthy which in turn makes their ability to learn easier. We think that it would be less stressful on the child if they didn’t have to worry about being behind from not starting the right subjects and instead were in the same boat as their peers selecting from the start. As we can only speak from experience with boys we think that finding their niche seems to be easier mentally and socially at age 14-15 than it does 16-17 and believe that this does truly affect their ability to learn and grow.
We hope that this offers some insight into the benefits of Year 10 being a bypass year at Springsure. We would be happy to participate further if you have any questions or would like any more information.
