❓ The Minister for Education provides an update on the impact of the BHP Billiton mine closure on schools in Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun, detailing student enrollment changes, support for relocating families and teachers, and financial assistance provided.
AnsweredQoN 302Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
RAVENSTHORPE AND HOPETOUN SCHOOLS
I refer to the government’s proactive work and support for Ravensthorpe and the region in response to BHP Billiton’s closure of the town’s operation. Will the minister update the house on the situation of schools in both Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe, and the assistance that is being provided to those schools through the Department of Education and Training? Dr E. CONSTABLE
I refer to the government’s proactive work and support for Ravensthorpe and the region in response to BHP Billiton’s closure of the town’s operation. Will the minister update the house on the situation of schools in both Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe, and the assistance that is being provided to those schools through the Department of Education and Training? Dr E. CONSTABLE
AnswerView source ↗
We are all aware that in January BHP Billiton announced that it would be suspending the operations of its nickel mine at Ravensthorpe. The announcement was made during the school holidays, but we made available people from the district office to assist parents if they found that they had to move in a short period to have their children well placed in schools by the beginning of this school year. The suspension of operations has had a significant impact, particularly on Hopetoun Primary School. The primary school ended up last year with 192 students. The latest information I have as of today is that 126 children are enrolled in the school, which means that 66 children have left the school and a number of families have been uprooted and have had to move their children to new schools. There were 130 children at Ravensthorpe District High School at the end of last year; as of today it has 122. There has been, therefore, only a minor impact on the district high school. The Department of Education and Training has been actively involved in assisting those families and assisting parents and students as they have been moving to new schools, and has been making sure that the transition has been as smooth as possible for them. Teachers also, of course, required a lot of support because of the uncertain times they experienced at the school. Six teachers have been relocated to start at new schools at the beginning of the second term; they will be moving to Karratha, Broome, Collie and Esperance. As much support as possible has been provided to parents in terms of school psychologists helping them in that transition; as well, parents have had available to them a voucher for $150 to help with new uniforms and books as their children have moved to these new schools.
Dr E. CONSTABLE replied: We are all aware that in January BHP Billiton announced that it would be suspending the operations of its nickel mine at Ravensthorpe. The announcement was made during the school holidays, but we made available people from the district office to assist parents if they found that they had to move in a short period to have their children well placed in schools by the beginning of this school year. The suspension of operations has had a significant impact, particularly on Hopetoun Primary School. The primary school ended up last year with 192 students. The latest information I have as of today is that 126 children are enrolled in the school, which means that 66 children have left the school and a number of families have been uprooted and have had to move their children to new schools. There were 130 children at Ravensthorpe District High School at the end of last year; as of today it has 122. There has been, therefore, only a minor impact on the district high school. The Department of Education and Training has been actively involved in assisting those families and assisting parents and students as they have been moving to new schools, and has been making sure that the transition has been as smooth as possible for them. Teachers also, of course, required a lot of support because of the uncertain times they experienced at the school. Six teachers have been relocated to start at new schools at the beginning of the second term; they will be moving to Karratha, Broome, Collie and Esperance. As much support as possible has been provided to parents in terms of school psychologists helping them in that transition; as well, parents have had available to them a voucher for $150 to help with new uniforms and books as their children have moved to these new schools.
We are all aware that in January BHP Billiton announced that it would be suspending the operations of its nickel mine at Ravensthorpe. The announcement was made during the school holidays, but we made available people from the district office to assist parents if they found that they had to move in a short period to have their children well placed in schools by the beginning of this school year. The suspension of operations has had a significant impact, particularly on Hopetoun Primary School. The primary school ended up last year with 192 students. The latest information I have as of today is that 126 children are enrolled in the school, which means that 66 children have left the school and a number of families have been uprooted and have had to move their children to new schools. There were 130 children at Ravensthorpe District High School at the end of last year; as of today it has 122. There has been, therefore, only a minor impact on the district high school. The Department of Education and Training has been actively involved in assisting those families and assisting parents and students as they have been moving to new schools, and has been making sure that the transition has been as smooth as possible for them. Teachers also, of course, required a lot of support because of the uncertain times they experienced at the school. Six teachers have been relocated to start at new schools at the beginning of the second term; they will be moving to Karratha, Broome, Collie and Esperance. As much support as possible has been provided to parents in terms of school psychologists helping them in that transition; as well, parents have had available to them a voucher for $150 to help with new uniforms and books as their children have moved to these new schools.
Dr E. CONSTABLE replied: We are all aware that in January BHP Billiton announced that it would be suspending the operations of its nickel mine at Ravensthorpe. The announcement was made during the school holidays, but we made available people from the district office to assist parents if they found that they had to move in a short period to have their children well placed in schools by the beginning of this school year. The suspension of operations has had a significant impact, particularly on Hopetoun Primary School. The primary school ended up last year with 192 students. The latest information I have as of today is that 126 children are enrolled in the school, which means that 66 children have left the school and a number of families have been uprooted and have had to move their children to new schools. There were 130 children at Ravensthorpe District High School at the end of last year; as of today it has 122. There has been, therefore, only a minor impact on the district high school. The Department of Education and Training has been actively involved in assisting those families and assisting parents and students as they have been moving to new schools, and has been making sure that the transition has been as smooth as possible for them. Teachers also, of course, required a lot of support because of the uncertain times they experienced at the school. Six teachers have been relocated to start at new schools at the beginning of the second term; they will be moving to Karratha, Broome, Collie and Esperance. As much support as possible has been provided to parents in terms of school psychologists helping them in that transition; as well, parents have had available to them a voucher for $150 to help with new uniforms and books as their children have moved to these new schools.
We are all aware that in January BHP Billiton announced that it would be suspending the operations of its nickel mine at Ravensthorpe. The announcement was made during the school holidays, but we made available people from the district office to assist parents if they found that they had to move in a short period to have their children well placed in schools by the beginning of this school year. The suspension of operations has had a significant impact, particularly on Hopetoun Primary School. The primary school ended up last year with 192 students. The latest information I have as of today is that 126 children are enrolled in the school, which means that 66 children have left the school and a number of families have been uprooted and have had to move their children to new schools. There were 130 children at Ravensthorpe District High School at the end of last year; as of today it has 122. There has been, therefore, only a minor impact on the district high school. The Department of Education and Training has been actively involved in assisting those families and assisting parents and students as they have been moving to new schools, and has been making sure that the transition has been as smooth as possible for them. Teachers also, of course, required a lot of support because of the uncertain times they experienced at the school. Six teachers have been relocated to start at new schools at the beginning of the second term; they will be moving to Karratha, Broome, Collie and Esperance. As much support as possible has been provided to parents in terms of school psychologists helping them in that transition; as well, parents have had available to them a voucher for $150 to help with new uniforms and books as their children have moved to these new schools.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.