00:00It's a weekday morning and children are riding barefoot next to a coral lagoon on their way
00:08to school.
00:09It's awesome.
00:10It's just such a fantastic place to be and be with the kids.
00:14The kids don't wear shoes to school, which is a bit mind-blowing and it took me a while
00:18to get used to that.
00:21The 40-odd students at the Lord Howe Island Central School often head to the foreshore
00:26to learn and connect with the environment.
00:29I think they're used to growing up around adults and that's just part of their everyday.
00:33They're really engaged and really connected.
00:35I like living on Lord Howe because there's lots of waves out on the reef.
00:41There's no traffic, there's no snakes or rats and you can ride your bikes everywhere.
00:46It's helped bring fourth generation Islander and former Wallaby, Adrian Skeggs, back to
00:52the island with his family.
00:54It's just so meaningful now that we're doing so much more together and riding him to school
00:58and picking him up from school.
00:59It's just such a dream.
01:00It's been amazing his growth in just a few months.
01:04I think living on probably the world's best and biggest playground is great for him because
01:09every day is an adventure outdoors.
01:11But with no high school on the island, they'll still have to look to a mainland boarding
01:16school or distance education in the future.
01:19Parents say the broader learning opportunities and remote island lifestyle outweigh any challenges.
01:25When the kids aren't in school, they're out learning from the pristine environment around
01:29them or within their community.
01:31The children grow up pretty much knowing every single endemic bird, fish.
01:38They know the ways of the ocean, they swim early, they get to know the land very quickly.
01:43And the next generation is riding the wave too, with the island's first preschool recently
01:49opening next door.
01:51The first steps in a unique education journey.
01:55For more UN videos visit www.un.org
Comments