Haileybury Pangea set to bring private online classes to Territory students

The government has given the green light to the Top End’s very first private school to offer day, boarding and online school options.

Remote students and families will soon have more educational opportunities thanks to the Territory’s first private online school.

It comes as the NT government approved the school’s application for increased education access.

Haileybury Rendall School principal Andrew McGregor said traditional school environments and timetables weren’t suitable – or accessible – to every child.

“Many young people living in very remote areas want to receive a high-quality education, but they don’t want to leave their home and community,” he said.

“There are many dedicated students who also belong to elite sports or arts programs or who have significant commitments outside of school.

“They can find it challenging to juggle those commitments with the traditional school timetable.”

Mr McGregor said online learning might not be suitable for every student, but it offered a level of flexibility that appealed to many of the Territory’s growing minds.

Haileybury Rendall School principal Andrew McGregor said Haileybury Pangea would offer small “bespoke” classes at a “stage not age” capacity.

Mr McGregor said Haileybury Rendall School would be the only school in the Top End to offer day, boarding, and online school options.

He said about 300 families had expressed interest in online learning through Haileybury Pangea and expected to convert up to 20 per cent of those into enrolments for 2024.

Territory-based students from Year 5 to Year 12 can join the school.

Mr McGregor said plans were in place to provide remote students with access to hand-on classes such as PE or science, with advice from the school’s pre-existing Victorian counterpart.

“We’re doing some of our experiments via video – we’ve got experts who are carrying out the experiments and it’s pretty real,” he said.

“There are some great resources for science students that are on video and we’ll have the resources for that, but where possible – and where it’s safe – we’ll make sure our older students can be involved in practice as well.”

Mr McGregor said he hoped to bring in online students to the Darwin campus for “special experiences” such as graduation or school holiday activities.

Haileybury Rendall School is launching the Territory's first private online school, Haileybury Pangea. Picture: Haileybury Rendall School

Mr McGregor said the school’s online students would still have access to the Top End campus’ teachers and wellbeing team.

He said frequent communication with students’ parents would enable families to encourage their kids to engage with coursework to the best of their ability.

“The students will have daily contact a number of times with their teachers via Zoom,” he said.

“As soon as an issue emerges, it would be very much like a day school – our co-ordinator would ring home to the parents and say, ‘we’ve got a bit of an issue’.”

Mr McGregor said the school’s wellbeing team would also be on-deck to curate individual learning plans for remote students with learning difficulties such as ADHD or dyslexia.

“They’re not going to be just connected to their classroom’s online teachers, they’ll also have access to school counsellors, careers advisers, and inclusion and support experts,” he said.

“The students will become part of our big network.”