Bianca Highfield and Elizabeth Partridge are in their third year of university and came as part of a Beyond the Line program, designed to encourage future teachers to work in country areas.

The two students spent a week observing classes and interacting with other teachers at the school.

Both students said they were really surprised at the skills of both the teachers and the students.

"We were really impressed at how this school exceeded our expectations of what Lightning Ridge would be like...and at the intelligence of the students. They were well-behaved, well-mannered and the teachers were very knowledgeable," Elizabeth said.

She said neither of them had visited an outback town before and so had no idea what Lightning Ridge would be like.

"We didn't really know what a remote town was like, we heard some things but we found it to be quite the opposite. We didn't think there would be tarred roads and the school would be as huge as it is. They've got a really great support staff, and I don't think we'd have any trouble, or anybody we'd go to uni with would have any trouble surviving in a place like this."

Elizabeth said the visit to the school had made them more inclined to teach at a remote school when they finished university.

"It's definitely changed our opinion. I think what would be up to us to do would be to go back to Newcastle and explain our experience.

"The thing we will take away is how advanced the school is, in our limited experience it would compare a lot higher to the schools back in Newcastle, particularly staff morale and the relationship that a lot of them have with the children."