Schools of Isolated and Distance Education

Schools of Isolated and Distance Education
Location
164 -194 Oxford Street, Leederville Western Australia Australia
Coordinates	31°56′09″S 115°50′29″E / 31.9358°S 115.8414°E / -31.9358; 115.8414
Information
Established	September 1918 (1918-09)
Principal	Noel Chamberlain
Years offered	K – 12
Website	www.side.wa.edu.au

Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) is a Western Australian school that provides educational services to remote and isolated students who might not otherwise have access to a school. It is based in Leederville, and provides both primary^[1] and secondary education.^[2]

History

The WA Correspondence School (as SIDE was then known) was established in 1918, initially catering only for primary level education of "isolated" and "outback" students. Secondary education was later added, and the student base grew to include physically disabled children, those with no fixed address (e.g. because their parents were itinerant workers).

In 1926 the school published the first edition of Our Rural Magazine.

In 1983 the WA Correspondence School merged with the Isolated Families Early Childhood Correspondence Scheme and the Isolated Students Matriculation Scheme to form the Distance Education Centre.

Schools of Isolated and Distance Education was formed in 1995 by the amalgamation of the Distance Education Centre and the five WA Schools of the Air.

In 2004 the HF radio system was replaced by a satellite-based system. SIDE now does education for children overseas.

References