Port Vincent Primary School and Aquatic Centre: Chad Cornes visits the Yorke Peninsula region of South Australia

Head to school at Port Vincent Primary on Yorke Peninsula and you're just as likely to need board shorts and flippers as an exercise book.

It’s pretty obvious that nearby Gulf Saint Vincent has had a big impact on the kids. Tourists who venture into the school are made to feel welcome with a tour around the aquarium.

Our guide, eight-year-old Dylan O'Connor really knew his stuff.

“That's a sponge crab and that's a zebra fish,” he said confidently. “There’s a cuttlefish, a moonlighter and puffer. And that crab down the end is a decorated crab.”

It soon becomes clear why the kids are so knowledgeable - Port Vincent Bay is one of their classrooms. The bay is just as much a part of the school as the library or hall. It’s attended by students from around the state. The day we visited, a group was learning to sail.

“They're learning how to right a capsized dinghy. They've learnt where to be in the front of the boat, who's best on the centre board, how you get back in,” said teacher Mark Short.

“You can see that even though this boat has capsized the kids aren't scared. That’s one thing we really pride ourselves in - water safety and how to teach these skills.”

Soon the kids from Jamestown in the state’s mid-north had righted their dinghy and were under sail again. And despite living seventy kilometres or so from the ocean, they all had their sea legs and that's a credit to the instructors.

“We put through I reckon between four and five thousand students from throughout South Australia a year,” said Mark “We run camps and the kids are here for about three days.”

That means there’s plenty of time for sailboarding, sailing, kayaking and of course, snorkeling.

The school has won numerous environment and education awards and all the kids who come here get to know a lot more about this State's marine life. They also carry out underwater reef surveys to provide marine biologists with a better understanding of what's in our Gulf.

It's a great program. To enrol contact 8853 7027. And if you're too old for school don't despair, the Port Vincent kids run regular tours of the Centre.

Port Vincent Primary School and & Aquatic Centre
Contact 8853 7027
Regular tours available by students