100 kids kept from school in protest

A hundred Wickham Primary School pupils were kept home today in protest of what parents claim is a "toxic" learning and teaching environment.

Several parents have contacted the Pilbara News over the past 24 hours about their worries and the Department of Education estimated around 100 children were absent from the school this morning.

Concerned mum Rebecca Cramp said parents had many reasons to protest.

"There is a lack of discipline, high turnover of staff, there is no support for teaching staff - these are just a few of the problems," she said. "My children only get one chance at a good education so we as parents will do whatever it takes to ensure that they get this.

"With the amount of tax dollars the parents in this town are being slogged for, we expect more from our government."

Another parent said her child's class had already been through five teachers this year.

Concerns from the Department of Education director general about the school resulted in the formation of an expert review group in September last year.

Myriad issues were raised in the review, including concerns about a lack of direction for new teachers, school leadership problems, the alienation of "significant sections of the community," a drop in staff morale, the school's reputation and more.

Department of Education regional executive director Sue Cuneo said they were treating concerns raised about the school's leadership as a matter of urgency after receiving formal and verbal complaints from parents and community members in recent days.

"We have continued to work with and support the school but 12 months on, the level of progress in some areas is not satisfactory," she said.

"Parents can be assured that we will do what is necessary to ensure this situation improves quickly."

Despite the concerns, Ms Cuneo said the department did not support parents' moves to keep their children from attending school tomorrow.

In 2008 Wickham Primary School was close to or above statistically similar schools across all five NAPLAN categories in every year group.

Last year's results on the MySchool website showed all year groups were below statistically similar schools across almost all areas of NAPLAN testing.