Kununurra provides warm welcome for flood-affected Warmun students

Public and Catholic schools are working together to help flood-affected students in the State's north.

Kununurra District High School has opened its classrooms to 23 students from the flood-ravaged Kimberley community of Warmun.

For the past three weeks, students from Warmun's Catholic Ngalangangpum School have been learning in Kununurra schools after their community was devastated in the March floods.

Education Minister Liz Constable commended the public and Catholic schools for working together to ensure the students' education could carry on seamlessly, despite the trauma and disruption of the floods.

"Primary students have been accommodated at St Joseph's Primary School in Kununurra, and the 23 secondary students are at Kununurra District High School," Dr Constable said.

"From all reports, the students and their accompanying teacher and assistant have fitted in to the Kununurra District High School community beautifully."

For continuity in their education, most of the Warmun students - who range from years 8 to 10 - are learning in a dedicated classroom within the school.

Two students have joined in with the general school timetable for classes, and all Warmun and Kununurra students share recess and lunch times.

"The Warmun students also have lessons from the school's media and art teachers and some of the boys have joined in activities through the Clontarf Football Academy," the Minister said.

Dr Constable said all students at Kununurra District High School - including those from Warmun - had an exciting morning planned today with ABC Radio Kimberley conducting an outside broadcast from the school.

"This is an opportunity for the Year 7 students to showcase their own broadcasting skills, which they have developed through a podcasting project," she said.

"It is a positive event at the school for all students to enjoy."

The floodwaters which surged through Warmun on March 13 washed away homes and cars, and rendered the town uninhabitable.  Hundreds of people were evacuated, and the community and other flood-affected parts of the Kimberley region were later declared a disaster area.

The Minister said the State Government was committed to helping community members return home as soon as possible.

"This huge effort is being led by the Warmun Aboriginal Community Re-establishment Taskforce which is co-ordinating recovery efforts to rebuild housing and infrastructure damaged during the flooding," she said.