Port Hedland School of the Air provides educational services to children living in remote and isolated locations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. 

The school commenced operations in 1964 and is based in Port Hedland. Port Hedland School of the Air moved into a new, state of the art facility in 1999 reflecting the Department of Education’s commitment to distance education.

The facility is characterised by a high quality, flexible workforce and learning spaces with a major focus on cutting edge telecommunications technology. On September 7, 2019 the school celebrated 55 years of providing educational services to the isolated students of the Pilbara. The school is now in its fifty-sixth year. It is one of the region’s oldest schools and forms part of the five Schools of the Air in the state.

Port Hedland School of the Air caters for the needs of isolated children from Kindergarten to Year 6, across an area of some 560 000 square kilometres, who do not have access to a mainstream school. These children can live on remote cattle stations, micro tourism industries, in small Aboriginal communities, out-stations and smaller rural farming blocks. Occasionally, we consider the enrolment of children from other circumstances if our capacity allows it.

Teachers communicate with their students daily via on-line conferencing linked to satellite technology. Students complete learning programmes put together by their teachers and return them to the school for assessment, feedback and incentives. Home tutor seminar, mini camps, teacher home and in-school visits, morning muster and the annual Year 4-6 School of the Air Muster in Perth are highlights of each school year. The biennial trip to the national’s capital, Canberra, is something that in highly anticipated by our Year 5 and 6 students. These are all programmes truly unique to Port Hedland School of the Air that make the school what it is.