Reflecting on my time as Principal of Karama School brings back many remembrances and a host of reflections. Those five years, from 1987 until 1991, were years I recall with both appreciation and fondness. I arrived at the start of the school’s fifth year and left just after it turned nine.

Appreciation and thanks to students, staff and a community with whom it was a pleasure to work. Fondness, because those years were ones that, in spite of challenges, enabled us to continue moving the school in an onward and upward direction.

Those years were ones during which we built upon the school’s beginning years in a way that promoted and consolidated it as a significant place of student development and learning. Karama School was, in every sense of the word, a ‘community’ school. It was front and centre within the Karama Community, a place of learning which evoked pride from parents and those within the electorate.

Highlights

Highlights are easy to recall and to this day, many indelible memories of Karama School remain imprinted on my mind. This recall is not in any particular chronological order, for all points made were part of our evolving culture and developing history.

* I arrived Karama when the school was right for change. That change and development was lead by our schools Parents and Citizens group, chaired by Mr Don Sutcliffe, that quickly evolved to become an Interim School Council under Mr Sutcliffe’s presidency. Our Schools Council was one of the first to become fully incorporated under the NT Education Act. Following Mr Sutcliffe’s contribution as council leader, came Mr Bill Bell and Ms Gail Lye. Both were people who, with our full council of parents and teachers, worked on school development.

 * Our School Council, whose parent and teacher members were fully representative of the community, filled an important and significant role in furthering our educational programs.

* Of equal importance was the establishment and development of the Karama Student Representative Council, the SRC. This group of year 4 – 7 student leaders was elected by children from Year 3 to 7. Voting was preferential. The SRC Charter was developed under the guidance of two stand-out students, Mark Clifton and Alex Smith. Over the years, this group came to do some great work for the school. Members grew to become stand out student leaders.

* We had a clean and green school. For the most part, children were conscientious about the way the school looked. There were few issues with graffiti and if any unsightly scrawls appeared, they were quickly removed.

* Karama invested in playground equipment. The stand-out and most used item was a roller slide located toward Livistona Road and just to the rear of the traffic lay-by. The slide was

constantly used. It was a pity when, years later, occupational health and safety experts decided, in the interests of student safety, that these items (roller slides in schools) had to be removed.

* In the days of dress optionality, Karama School became a leader in the development of positive attitudes toward wearing the school uniform. Most children wore the uniform with pride, for it identified them as being members of their school.

* We had strong multicultural links with the various ethnic groups resident within our community. This went beyond programs within the curriculum to supporting groups wanting to use our school facilities for social and cultural activities.

* We became a front-running school in the area of media and marketing. Good news stories featuring Karama’s students were carried on radio, television and by print media. One stand-out feature was the ‘Karama Times’ a four page insert produced by children in Mr George Roufiel’s class. This feature became the lift out carried by the ‘NT News’ on August 4, 1971. Karama’s positive profile was enhanced by media publicity.

* With computer education still in its infancy, we had a computer room set up with twenty or so Commodore 64 units. These were standard in many schools. Classes had dedicated computer awareness lessons supported by a designated teacher who look lessons for children across the school.

 * During this time, the first Apple computers were starting to emerge. Coles introduced a program known as ‘Apples for dockets’. Coles dockets could be tallied and traded for computer hardware when certain values were reached. Apple 2 and Apple 2E computers were available, together with printers and associated hardware items.

* Our students and classes worked diligently at collecting dockets. These came from home, from friends and from community members. Each Saturday morning, classes were rostered to wash cars at the (then) Ampol Service Station alongside Karama Shopping Centre. This was in exchange for Coles dockets from those whose cars were being washed. On one occasion, a Buslink bus turned up for a wash down! We earned shopping dockets to the value of many tens of thousands of dollars. On a per capita basis (docket values earned divided by the number of enrolled students) Karama came first in SA and the NT for the value of dockets turned into computers. And in the first year of the program, our ‘earning’ capacity was the second highest in Australia.

* A spin off was a front page picture and text story in the ‘NT News’ of School Council member Mrs Lynne D’Asssendro (labelled the ‘super docket counter’) tallying the value of

dockets earned that year. This program continued on and gave Karama School’s computer acquisition program a significant boost.

* During my time ay Karama, the School Council established an Outside School Hours Care program. At that time it was an ‘After School Care Program’, run with limited facilities and by a dedicated staff of two, Mrs Margaret Campbell and a support person) in our General Purpose room. As numbers grew, the program relocated to the pre-school. That was at a time when regulations were few, organisation was relaxed and establishment of such ventures not challenged by endless red tape.

* During my time at Karama, the school’s Founding Principal, Mr Graeme Cooper, passed away. A memorial stone and shade shelter was erected in the front garden bed of the main school

building, adjacent to what is now the staffroom. Our SRC named it ‘Cooper’s Cloister’. While the shade structure is gone, the stone remains.

 Conclusion

Karama School has and will continue to fill a significant role in the lives and development of young people living within the community. Happy anniversary and all the best for the future.

I have touched on a few points of remembrance. There is much more that could be told. I remember my five years at Karama with appreciation and fondness

Happy anniversary.

Regards

Henry Gray

Karama School’s second principal 1987 – 1991