Riverine Herald, Friday, May 15, 2020—PAGE 17
riverineherald.com.au
Education Future 2020 THE education sector has been an education in itself this year with coronavirus emptying every school in the country.
And with millions of schoolchildren being home schooled — albeit temporarily — the unprecedented challenges have also highlighted the schools that had the best systems in place, the most !exible staff and the most determination to ensure their students kept up. Coronavirus this year may have put an end to the traditional education week but many of those schools delivering education at the cutting edge have joined forces to present Education Future in the Riverine Herald. By embracing the technology that has kept our ‘home schoolers’ going,
it affords parents and students the opportunity to still ‘visit’ the schools they are considering. Schools where they can access scholarship opportunities, boarding options and assess the range of subjects and extra-curricular activities that are available to provide each student with a holistic approach to education, making them more rounded and better equipped citizens of the future. This can be done via virtual tours and online enrolments, courses and boarding choices. The schools participating in Education Future are schools which have been pioneering the future of their students for, in some cases, for more than 150 years. But others, newer, have had the advantage of their own assessment of the true needs of students circa 2020 and bring tailored programs
and facilities to the mix. The schools bringing you Education Future are St Catherine’s, St Joseph’s College Echuca, Bendigo TAFE Echuca, Assumption College, Scotch College, River City Christian College, Echuca College, Moama Public School, St Mary’s Primary School, Moama Anglican Grammar, Presbyterian Ladies College, St Patrick’s Primary School Tongala, Echuca East Primary School, Echuca Twin Rivers School, 208 Echuca Primary School and Echuca Specialist School. Each one of these institutions has an established reputation; many of them as independent schools but there are also the standout government schools providing a low-cost local option and the versatility to give every student the chance to excel and become the best they can be.
Even as Education Future is launched, Canberra and our State Governments are winding back the restrictions we have all been living with and across the twin towns and region students are beginning to go back to mainstream education in increasingly larger numbers. Provided this national — and international — easing of lockdowns succeeds schools, students and families will be able to resume something of a more routine life. But routine does not alter the fact that decisions parents and students make this year about which school, or schools, they are considering will have a much longer-term impact on their future. That is the essence of this feature, education is our future and the young students of today — your children — will need that education to better create their own futures.