Karalundi College is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

students, located on the

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

, north of Meekatharra,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, Australia. The Karalundi College is an affiliated school of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system.

History

Karalundi was established in 1954 as an Aboriginal boarding school run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Western Australia. It was begun after its founder Pastor Dudley Vaughan was challenged to begin such a work by Avy Curley OAM.An Extraordinary Woman
'' Signs of the Times''. Retrieved 8 June 2011 The property was north of Meekatharra. The school served the Murchison, Upper Gascoyne, Pilbara and Western Desert regions. Classes began in September 1954, with a focus on literacy, numeracy and practical skills. During its early years of operation, Karalundi was rated by the Western Australian Department of Education as a "most efficient establishment" and commended for the "relatively high standard of attainment" by students. Karalundi was closed in September 1974 in a government move to phase out church involvement in indigenous affairs. The property was sold into private hands and operated as a farm-stay enterprise for 12 years. In the early 1980s, many past students came to recognise that under the state system, their children's education was inferior to their own. These parents lobbied the state government for Karalundi to reopen as an independent parent-controlled

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Aboriginalbr>boarding school
where children would be educated away from the problems associated with alcohol abuse and gain an education focusing on practical life skills, as well as literacy and numeracy. The advocacy group was supported by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and, in August 1986, Karalundi was reopened as such. The school has been the location of published studies of a peer support program and a health promotion program in 1998. Karalundi has recently extended its secondary program to include Years 11 and 12 and is recognised as one of the leading schools in Aboriginal education in Western Australia.

Student life

All students at the school are boarders. Students are housed in dormitories. Students are resident only during the school term and return to their communities for holiday periods.Karalundi Aboriginal Education Centre Profile
. Aboriginal Independent Community School. Retrieved 2009-07-24 Due to the boarding nature of Karalundi, all staff are encouraged to participate in the overall program of the school, both within and outside school hours. This entails being involved with the students in the social and spiritual life of Karalundi.

Management

Karalundi is an independent parent controlled school, incorporated in 1986. An

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of 15 members (elected at an Annual General Meeting) is responsible for the governance and long term planning of Karalundi. Day-to-day management is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer, Principal and Finance Controller who make up the Administrative Committee and are responsible for hiring of staff and faculty and implementing the strategic plan. The parents who operate the school are largely former Karalundi students. They are

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

, and require that Karalundi be operated with the ethos of the Seventh-day Adventist faith. All staff are required to exhibit exemplary

standards before the students, and uphold the Christian ethos.

Spiritual aspects

All students take religion classes each year that they are enrolled. These classes cover topics in

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history and

and

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doctrines. Instructors in other disciplines also begin each class period with prayer or a short devotional thought, many which encourage student input.

References

External links

Karalundi
on the

South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists The South Pacific Division (SPD) of Seventh-day Adventists is a sub-entity of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which oversees the Church's work in the South Pacific nations of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the isl ...