Kids head back to school

Erin Jonas picks up her daughter Hannah Jonas from her first day at Prep at Bundaberg East State School.

Max Fleet

THERE were tears, shouts of joy and sighs of relief from parents as hundreds of students across the region headed back to school yesterday morning.

The students were also among the first to experience a massive change to hit Queensland classrooms - the introduction of the national curriculum.

Queensland Teachers Union Bundaberg North president Allan Cook said teachers had been working hard for the past 12 months to make sure they were prepared for the changes in the classroom.

"I think there is a strong sentiment in the community that it is something that needs to be done and should have been done a long time ago," he said.

The national curriculum aims to bring all states into line so that children are being taught the same subject matter across the nation.

Mr Cook said the teachers he had spoken to were confident about implementing the curriculum.

But Member for Burnett Rob Messenger was not pleased with the changes as he felt it would hurt remote schools.

"After speaking with many parents and school teachers, I have significant concerns about the government and opposition plans of taking away Year 7 students from magnificent country primary schools like Alloway, Burnett Heads, Elliott Heads, Avondale, Kolan South etcetera, and placing them in under-resourced high schools."

While there was plenty of debate about the new curriculum, the young Prep students were just pleased to get through their first day.

"I liked that I got to eat and play twice," Bundaberg East State School's Emily Little said. Young Emily said she had also managed to make some new friends.

For classmate Hannah Jonas it was the play dough that caught her attention.

Hannah's mum, Erin, said the youngster had been excited to attend school.

"She has an older sister in Year 1 so she knows what it's all about," she said.

"It was very chaotic in our house this morning."

And it seemed like the first day was not too daunting for the two young girls.

Both said they were happy to come back to school today.