Church plans Indigenous boarding school near Brewarrina
Posted 11 hours 48 minutes ago
ABC
The Seventh Day Adventist Church is proposing to open a boarding school for young Aborigines in western New South Wales in 2010.
The church is negotiating to buy a property at Gongolgon, near Brewarrina, to establish the school for kindergarten to year 12 students.
The church's regional director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries, Murray Chapman, says its focus would be on practical life skills and resilience.
"It would provide an environment where the children can be focused on their education - we realise some living environments are difficult learning environments and we would want to provide one where young people are free to learn and grow and develop," he said.
Mr Chapman says a development application will be submitted in the next few months once the Aboriginal community is consulted.
He says the church operates a similar education centre in Western Australia.
"Traditionally and historically the Adventist church has had a strong education program all around the world, it's one of the things we believe we do well and so this is one way we believe we can make a worthwhile and positive contribution to the community," he said.
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