The School was opened in 1987 and takes its name from John Leslie (Les) MacFarlane who was the member for Elsey, a long serving member of the Legislative assembly, speaker for the house for 8 years as well as president of the NT Cattleman’s association.
The School is one of 5 primary schools located within the township and one of six schools which form part of a wider system, based on geographical groupings, known as the “Rivers Cluster”. Cluster schools work collaboratively to establish local educational priorities relevant to their communities.
MacFarlane consists of 4 blocks of ‘closed’ classrooms, a pre-school, library, computer lab, administration block & undercover areas, one of which includes the assembly area, breakfast area, stage and PE area. The canteen & withdrawal rooms are within these buildings
Large shaded playground areas, basketball courts and a shared community oval adjacent to the school, represent the wider environs. All the buildings are air-conditioned. The community’s swimming pool, sports ovals & YMCA are all utilized as part of the schools extra curricula activities.
The school is culturally diverse and a range of nationalities and socio-economic groupings are represented. There are approximately 210 students currently enrolled. Particular needs of the schools community are catered for which enable the teachers and students to ‘Strive for your best’, which is the school motto.
MacFarlane Primary School operates a special Breakfast with a Mentor Program which caters for all children and families attending the school. Breakfast is served daily from 7:00-8:00am.
ICT
MacFarlane assists students to develop ICT capability through providing opportunities for students to appropriately access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems, and work collaboratively in all areas at school. Each classroom in the school has an interactive whiteboard, a number of computers and a flip camera. Classes also have access to I Pads, notebooks, and video cameras. There is a computer laboratory in the library block.
