Did you know there is a school catering for students from preschool to senior school within the Women’s and Children’s Hospital?

In fact, the Hospital School which is part of the Department for Education also has campuses at Flinders Medical Centre and the Lyell McEwan Hospital as well as providing teaching for children of family members from rural areas in hospital at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Students don’t have to be onsite in the hospital either. The school caters to siblings and outpatients in programs that deliver one on one teaching in the ward, face-to-face teaching in the classroom, and learning online and learning@home for those students who return home but are not well enough to attend school. The school also works collaboratively with MissingSchool who offer See Be the Robot Service which involves Telepresence robots being placed in willing schools to ensure a continuous, two-way connection between children requiring health care support and their classrooms. There is also a Book Buddies program run by a team of retired teachers who visit wards and outpatient areas in the hospitals and read to children.

The school has 22 staff and is headed up by Principal, Matthew McCurry who was appointed in 2019. One of his first jobs was to freshen up the site and with community support and a lot of hard work, the team managed an extensive upgrade without spending a cent.

In 2019, the school taught approximately 1400 public and private school students from around South Australian and the Northern Territory as well as students from interstate and overseas who were accessing specialist services such as the WCH Burns and Craniofacial Units.

In November 2019, Behind the News visited the school. You can watch the video here.

Opened in 1930, the school will celebrate 90 years this year.

Visit the Hospital School SA website for more information.