West Island Campus

The West Island Campus of the school caters for students from K-10: West Island primary students from Kindergarten to Year 6 and all secondary students from Year 7 to 10. The Home Island secondary students travel across the lagoon to attend school each day and have Cocos Malay as their first language. As on Home Island, the teaching of English to the Cocos-Malay students is a key priority and ESL philosophies direct the nature of teaching and learning programmes.

Organisation of teachers and learning at West Island is based around collaborative teaching teams. The  Primary team is made up of  2 full time  teachers and a full time Educational Assistant, who cater for K-6 primary students. Currently the classes are split into K-2 and Years 3-6. Additional support for this group is also provided by specialist teachers in the areas of Indonesian Language, Music, Science, Physical Education and Design and Technology. Students visit the Science laboratory for experiments and use woodworking tools for hands-on projects on a regular basis.

 Secondary school runs from Year 7 to Year 10 with successful integration between early and later schooling years guided by middle-schooling philosophies and practices. We have a seamless transition between primary and secondary school which incorporates integration of the whole student body for various events and steady groupings of students throughout phases of education. 

The secondary teams are made up of  "home" teachers and full time Education Assistants who are shared across the groups. For collaborative teams to work effectively we believe it is essential for teams to meet regularly during D.O.T.T. and to communicate and collaborate on planning issues and on issues relating to individual students.  Subject specialists offer a comprehensive education in Mathematics, Science, English, Society and Environment, Design and Technology, Computing Technology, Indonesian Language, Music and Health and Physical Education.

Generally, students who come to Cocos from mainland schools adjust quickly to island life and to the culture of the school. There are no truancy or behaviour problems, they soon make friends, and our students are motivated learners guided by a dynamic staff through rich learning experiences. Students who leave this school for mainland schools generally find that they are slightly advanced in many areas compared to their peers. This is due to the optimum learning conditions to which they have been exposed at C(K)IDHS: small class sizes, hands-on curriculum and individualised pastoral care.

Student Numbers

Kindergarten: 4

Preprimary: 3

Year 1: 2

Year 2: 1

Year 3: 3

Year 4: 6

Year 5: 5

Year 6: 3

Year 7: 21 (15 Cocos Malay students)

Year 8: 8 (4 Cocos Malay students)

Year 9: 8 (6 Cocos Malay students)

Year 10: 16 (12 Cocos Malay students)