Kylie and husband Ron, along with their 4 children, live on their cattle station east of Julia Creek. All four children have attended boarding school, with Natalie their eldest currently in her third year studying Veterinary Science, and Rachel studying a Bachelor of Education, both at JCU. Emily, Year 11, is still at The Cathedral School as a boarder and Peter, Year 9, who we discovered boarding school was not a good fit for, has returned home and is currently attending the Julia Creek Learning Facility. This is a pilot school for high school, delivered on an Education Queensland campus but lessons are delivered through Western Alliance SDE, with a Teacher Aide employed as their tutor. Through the week, Peter and Kylie live in Julia Creek for work and school. Kylie’s passion for education saw her venture west to Charters Towers in 1999.
2000 saw her move to Julia Creek (to be with her fiancé, now husband Ron) and begin teaching at Julia Creek State School. It is here that she was introduced to ICPA.
However, it wasn’t until the first of her 4 children began attending Mt Isa School of the Air that she joined her local Julia Creek branch and soon joined the executive and began to completely understand the depth of ICPA, and that ICPA is not only for Distance Ed and Boarding schools but has a massive impact on small schools and on the education of all children in Queensland.
After educating her own children for 12 years through MISOTA and doing some relief teaching for those last two years, with only her youngest left in the Channel Downs schoolroom, she is now back working at Julia Creek State School in a multi-age, Yr. 3 to 6 classroom.
