Susie Bedford – Exmouth District High

Exmouth is a small country town situated 1270kms north of Perth. It is regarded as the gateway to Ningaloo Reef – a fringing coral reef approximately 260kms long and about 1/10th the size of the Great Barrier Reef. The town has a population of approximately 2400 people but during the tourist season from April to October the population swells to about 6000.

Exmouth District High School is the only school in Exmouth. The school has 86 high school students and 225 primary school students including Kindergarten and Pre-Primary. The majority of the high school students are in Years 8-10. Quite a few students go to schools in Geraldton or Perth after Year 10 to complete Year 11 & 12.

There is a Careers program for Year 11 and 12 students which is supported by Woodside. The program enables students to complete school and Tafe coursework while spending some days working in businesses in the town.

Exmouth District High is very active working with the wider community to learn about and care for the local natural environment. In 2008 the school developed an Environment Centre and an Environmental Values program to enhance the students awareness of the impact humans have on the fragile coastal landscape and is working towards becoming a Sustainable School. In 2007, a 2.1kW photovoltaic system was installed to reduce the school’s eco-footprint and has since obtained Federal funding to install another 2kW PV system as well as rainwater tanks in the Environment Centre. The school's resident chickens eat the scraps from the canteen and home economics. Vegetable gardens planted last year will be expanded again in 2009 and a new shade house will be constructed in June 2009.

Students at Exmouth are quite isolated. The closest towns are Carnarvon about 4 hours drive to the south and Karratha about 5 hours north. Once a year, students play sport against students from Carnarvon and for the last 5 years have taken students from the High School to Country Week in Perth. This is a sporting competition held in Perth for students who live in the country. Students who go to Country Week do a lot of fundraising for the trip.