QUAMBONE Primary is one of the many schools around Australia welcoming university students who are on their rural teaching placements.

Asha Bird is currently in her third year of a Bachelor of Primary Education at Newcastle University and was given the opportunity to come out to Quambone for four weeks, starting on 31 October.

"As a part of a primary ed degree we have to go out on rural placement; and they give us four preferences. I put my preferences in Port Macquarie and Foster."

"I didn’t get any of my preferences and they asked me whether I would go out to Quambone instead, which I'd never heard of!"

"I looked it up and all I could find out was its population and that it had a small library - so I set off and said to myself; look it'll be an experience."

Quambone primary is a school of two staff and eleven students - considerably smaller than the schools in Newcastle where Asha is from.

"The point of these rural placements is to diversify our skills as teachers," said Asha.

"Quambone only has 11 kids, which has certainly been something new to work with. Teaching kids across grades at the same time has been really good for me."

"All the kids are so tight-knit and actually want to help each other out, a lot of the older kids will help out the young ones which I just love to see."

Rural placements also give students an opportunity to see the diversity that Australia has to offer - and it can be a bit of a culture shock.

"You come out to a place like this and it just changes everything," said Asha.

"I've travelled around the world and it feels like that, coming out here doesn't even feel like I'm in Australia anymore, it's like a whole other country."

"And the way people talk about what's 'just down the road' is crazy to me; if I'm driving two hours to somewhere like you would to go to Dubbo it's for a weekend!"

The real hidden benefit to going out rurally for a placement is just how different life is away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and for Asha it's been the best part of her time in Quambone.

"I'm finding that I'm learning more life skills than anything else; I learnt to change a bike tyre, the breeds of different cattle, and I even went yabbying too."

"But the best thing I've found is that it's the little things that make people happy, when the kids are learning about things like frogs or even just going on laptops they love all of it - and that’s the way it should be."

And out of all of her friends that are out on placement across the country, Asha says she feel like she's getting the most out of her time as a rural teacher.

"A lot of my friends are in places like Port Macquarie and realistically their life hasn't changed at all," she said.

"I was going to go back home this weekend to visit my parents but I just told them I'm staying, while I'm here I just want to soak up everything and make the most of it."