JUNGLE DRUM: Latest ferry breakdown latest, sorry chapter, in endless, 15-year saga, Mossman High teachers kicking big goals

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When will the Douglas Shire ever get a new Daintree Ferry? Picture: Submitted

Last week I attended the parent, teacher function at Mossman High. It was a great insight into the dedication of the teachers there and I always get valuable feedback that I can take back to my daughter.

Mr B, her English teacher is very helpful and comes across as genuinely loving the subject he teaches.

Ms G, her music teacher is a Douglas legend and gave me some great insights into better practice and learning.

Mr W, her Cooking (elective) teacher is so supportive (this is my daughter's chosen path) and helpful.

Ms T, her Maths teacher is wonderful, she always sends out pre-tests and helpful information by email. 

 Ms C, her Drama teacher, is another who clearly loves her profession and that shines through.

I would love to see some of her dreams come true for Mossman High around Drama. Her humanities teacher gave a great insight into the next areas of learning and again clearly enjoys teaching. Mr G makes science fun and is clearly well organised and likes delivering learning.

There is often a focus on negatives around schools, and while neither Mossman High or the teachers are perfect, who is?

Over the last couple of years the school has been listening hard and we have two focus groups, one around behaviour and another around bus transport.

Both of these groups are at the point where parental feedback will result in real improvements. The P&C is functioning, profitable and effective and while we have a great group, more involvement I am sure, would be welcomed.

My daughter has a wonderful and mostly supportive 'friend group' as they call them these days and genuinely enjoys going to Mossman High. We have both found we can and do work with the school to iron out any issues. The staff are very receptive to feedback.

The Daintree Ferry

The old tub is again causing headaches, because once again dredging is not complete for the cycle of low tides. Unfortunately DSC seems to favour reactive behaviours instead of pro-active ones. It boggles the mind how often the same mistakes are repeated.

It was built for 15 years of service and more breakdowns are inevitable now it's had 18 years of action.

In the short term DSC must develop a 'countdown' that begins at each outage. This would dictate when passenger boats were deployed, buses organised and EMS notified. The very ad-hoc process now is not acceptable. If that last breakdown had occurred in daytime it would have been a circus.

One hopes that a new ferry is being ordered as we speak, as that is the only way reliability will be improved. 

*Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.

*The comments and opinions in this piece are of the author and author only and do not reflect those of the Newsport editor or staff.

 

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