Kangaroo Island Community Education

Kangaroo Island Community Education (KICE) was founded in 2005 through the merger of three school locations in Kingscote, Parndana, and Penneshaw. Today, as a community school with multiple locations, it offers a broad and individualized education from preschool through year 12. Senior secondary students mainly attend the campuses in Kingscote and Parndana.

The Kingscote Campus is the largest location with around 450 students. The school is located in the town of the same name on the shores of Nepean Bay, which is also the capital of Kangaroo Island. The campus has modern and spacious facilities, which have been created in recent years through extensive building renovations. These include a center for performing arts, a center for food and hospitality training, a car repair shop, and a recreation center. Kingscote itself offers good infrastructure, such as the island airport, a tidal pool (sea swimming pool), a hospital, and a number of attractions, making it an important destination for tourists. Kingscote is the oldest settlement in South Australia.

The Parndana Campus is centrally located on the island in the rural community of Parndana and has around 180 students. The focus here is on agricultural sciences. The school runs its own ten-hectare farm, offering programs in animal husbandry, crop farming, beekeeping, horticulture, and aquaculture. A key educational offering is the Kangaroo Island Skills Center, which specializes in aquaculture. This campus is also well equipped with a sports hall, swimming pool, professional kitchen, construction center, library, and an adjoining community center.

Kangaroo Island Community Education combines modern education with practical learning in a natural environment. The close connection to the island’s culture, flexible educational offerings, and cooperation between the locations make the school concept unique. The school provides students with opportunities to interact with scientists, artists and craftspeople across the island as well as participation in practical activities such as native fish surveys and tagging, pelican studies and dolphin monitoring.

Kangaroo Island itself is considered one of Australia’s most important nature and wildlife reserves. Over a third of the island is protected. Here you will find eucalyptus forests, dune landscapes, cliffs, rivers, and wetlands. It is a veritable mosaic of diverse habitats, home to many endemic or specially protected species such as the Kangaroo Island kangaroo, echidnas, seals, sealions and hundreds of bird species. Of the penguins that once thrived here, only a few remain, and they are best seen on guided tours.