Cairns School of Distance Education

The Cairns School of Distance Education (CSDE) is a state virtual school located in Cairns, Queensland, Australia offering distance education to home-based students from prep school to Year 12.

CSDE was established in 1972 as the Cairns School of the Air, but was renamed t o CSDE in 1990. It aims to become an E-Learning School Of Excellence;

Total student enrolments for the school are currently 274 students. In 2010 there were 246 students enrolled (111 irls and 135 boys) and the enrolment continuity (Feb-Nov 2010) was 55%.

Its website is http://cairnssde.eq.edu.au/wordpress/

More Details

In 2010, the teaching staff comprised 62 teaching staff and 25 non-teaching staff, with respectively 56 and 21 full-time equivalents.

Enrolment varies from week to week, and it tends to be a mixture of short and long term, with most remote students staying for 6 to 8 years. There is a transient percentage, particularly in the middle and senior years of schooling.

Students can enrol free of charge if they meet state criteria for any of geographical isolation, medical conditions, caring responsibilities, itinerant lifestyle or some other undefined circumstances. Students who are home-schooled through choice or are traveling elsewhere in Australia or overseas can pay a fee to enrol with CSDE.

School-based students who are currently enrolled full time in a secondary school can enrol in one or more subjects if:

• the subject is not offered by their base school
• the subject is offered by the base school, but the student is unable to access it due to a timetable clash or other special circumstance.

The approach promotes a blended model of learning featuring a balance between virtual and where possible face to face delivery. CSDE provides e-learning through Elluminate and Blackboard: each Year level from Year 1 to Year 5 has their own classroom with discussion boards, digital drop boxes, wikis and all e-learning packages.

It also provides LOTE (5 Languages) and Music services to many small rural and regional schools.

References

• Queensland State School Reporting ‐ 2010, Queensland Government, 2011, http://cairnssde.eq.edu.au/docs2011/admindocs/CSDE_SAR2010.pdf, April 2012
• Audit findings for Cairns School of Distance Education, December 2010, http://cairnssde.eq.edu.au/docs2011/admindocs/auditReport.doc, April 2012

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