Tiny school to visit beach as wish comes true to see ocean

The invitation to the children of Hermidale, about 600km north-west of Sydney, was extended by Tanja Public School after an online news segment planted the seed for a program of letter writing between the similarly small schools.

Hermidale Public School has just 11 students - three in Kindergarten, one in Year 1, two in Year 2, one in Year 4, and four in Year 5. The town of 127 people lies 850km north-west of Tanja, halfway between Nyngan and Cobar.

The young children of Hermidale decided to raise some money for their school, and through a previous student and local farmer in the area, they were gifted 85 hectares of land to do "whatever you like" with it.

The decision was to plant wheat in its infancy, teach lessons with the students in the classroom while also being hands-on in the field, tend to the wheat until it reached maturity, and then have it harvested by a farmer before being sent off to Sydney markets.

For all their hard work and efforts, they became $50,000 richer.

However, instead of asking for new computers or electronics, all the children wanted was to see the ocean.

At Tanja Public School, a Behind the News (BTN) segment on the Hermidale school children sparked interest and the seed of an idea.

"With Tanja being a small school, a lightbulb went off and I said 'watch this kids'," said Tanja teacher Nel Reeve.

As well as being inspired by Hermidale's unique fundraising efforts and lessons, Ms Reeve and Tanja Public School reached out to Hermidale to help organise their trip to the beach.

"I cannot wait to see their faces," Ms Reeve said.

"It's been described as the biggest lake they will have ever seen - 'If you keep heading that way, you end up in New Zealand'."

Hermidale has a pub, accommodation units which usually house miners, a post office that opens on restricted hours, a firefighting shed, half a dozen houses, a community centre, and a school.

Hermidale principal Skye Dedman said the children were so proud of their efforts with the wheat crop

"And so they should be. You couldn't predict the depth of knowledge the students were going to achieve when we started this," Ms Dedman said.

"They have really taken ownership of the project and of their learning and you can see it coming through when they are talking to people about what they do at school."

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Hermidale teacher Lynn Fennamore said they were all looking forward to the beach trip.

"Which is only natural because we have a river that is 50 kilometres away," she said.

"They're looking really forward to meeting the students at Tanja Public School."

The students will be staying at Tathra Beach Eco Camp, and Coastlife Adventures will be running some activities, both of which have been "incredibly generous" Ms Reeve said.

As well as a day at Tathra beach, other highlights of their visit will include visiting a Bega dairy farm, and seeing a cruise ship in Eden port.