milyakburra strong start bright futures1

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING www.det.nt.gov.au

Milyakburra School

Groote Eylandt College Strong Start, Bright Futures


Students2009 2010 2011

Enrolments 24 32 38

Attendance 82% 71% 77%


Attendance Data

Out of community

In community

<60 60-89% > 90%

Week 6

6 32 3 5 24

Week 4

5 33 2 6 22

Week 2

8 30 1 9 20

Every Child Every Day


Enrolment Year Breakdown

2011 Active 2011 Passive

Preschool 2 0

Early ChildhoodTransition – Year 3

13 0

PrimaryYears 4-Year 6

12 0

Middle YearsYears 7-Year 9

5 2

Senior YearsYears 10-12

3 1


School Staff

Positions Indigenous Non- Indigenous

Full time teaching Staff 2 AT 2 CT

Teaching principal 1

Casual Support Staff 2 1

Total 4 4


Pre School Aged children ( 0 - 4 Years )

Goal: To provide pre school aged children and their families with resources, support and facilities to aid the development of each child. Partnership with Anglicare to provide daily playgroup at

school. Families and young children are encouraged to participate (up to 10 children involved)

Four year olds and their families are encouraged to join in with the early years class in preparation for their first year of schooling.


Early Years Classroom - Transition to Year 3 Goal: To provide a culturally sensitive learning

environment where each child is provided with the foundations for future success. Curriculum is developed using the Early Years Learning

Framework and NTCF Integrated curriculum and play based learning Parental involvement in the learning processUse of assessment data to identify learning needs – driving

teacher programsMajor focus on oral language development and phonological

awarenessQuality teaching – on going support to develop.


Assessment of Early Years student Phonological Awareness – Project Kids Data

Listening Rhyming Words in Sentences

Awareness of Syllables

Beginning and End sounds in

words

PhonemesSounds in

words

Writing letters, numbers and

words

VW X

EW X

RD X X

RB X X

TB X X X

SW X X X X X

KW X X X X X

NM


Voices from Early Childhood


Milyakburra Primary Years – Literacy and NumeracyGoal: To develop literacy and numeracy levels so students have the skills and knowledge to be successful across two cultures. Quality Teaching Strong focus on Literacy and NumeracySpecialised intervention program - QuicksmartUse of assessment data to identify learning gaps and needsProvide real and meaningful contexts for learning Continue to develop phonological awareness Engaging parents in the learning process – support in the

home environment


Student Voice from Milyakburra Primary Years


Middle YearsGoals: To engage and retain middle year students and continue to develop literacy, numeracy and life skills in a meaningful and purposeful learning environment. Targeted learning centered around student interest e.g.

Technology, Mechanics Continued strong focus on literacy and numeracy Market Garden – rich learning context - integrating maths and

literacy that can lead to viable local employment and / or business enterprise

Preparing students for pathways – mainstreams school, VET Working with local operations to provide learning opportunitiesRetention and engagement is the most challenging areaEngaging families in student learning


Voice from Community Member


Senior YearsGoal : All year 10 students have a documented pathways plan completed.2011 sees Milyakburra’s first senior secondary students (Yr 10).

All year 10 students are enrolled in Stage 1 PLP Semester 2 2011

New Senior Years program being developed in readiness for 2012

School is working in partnership with Groote Eylandt College Schools, NT Senior School (933), NTOEC and regional support to develop a plan for senior years students for 2012 onwards.

Challenging to do at Milyakburra because of limited infrastructure, multiage classes and employment pathway options.


Violet on School and Future


Community EngagementGoal: To develop partnerships with community where we work together to support student development and learning. Formation of school board and consultancy in Annual

Operational Plan3-9 programs - basketball, discos, movie nights, sport and

recreational activitiesTeacher programs required to have community engagement

factorLanguage and Culture Program Mentoring literacy leader in the community.Currently recruiting cultural advisor


Language and Culture Curriculum


Student Wellbeing – healthy learning environment

Goal: To create an safe and happy learning environment where students are developed both socially and emotionally. Whole school approachBuilding student resilience and coping skills Developing and identifying good learning behavioursBuilding respect and pride for self , others, school and

community Working together Self reflection on behaviour


Student Wellbeing – keeping safe, healthy and strong

Goal: To provide a safe environment where every student develops healthy self care skills, habits and knowledge. • School Nutrition program – providing healthy meals daily. • Daily health routines • Partnership with local clinic – weekly health talks• Creating awareness of healthy food choices through school

vegetable garden


Attendance and Attendance StrategiesGoal: Every child has 90% or more attendanceRegular conversations with community and familiesQuality teachingExpectations and goals communicated to students and

familiesRaising school profile in the communityCreation of a happy, safe learning environment at school Partnership agreements with local service providers – no

school no serviceEngaging CurriculumIncentives

Every Child Every Day


Raising School ProfileGoal: To increase Milyakburra’s School Profile to share good news stories , raising community pride in school.

Chief Ministers Smart School Award Highly Commended award for Innovation in Indigenous Education (garden enterprise)

Winners - ABC ‘Watch us Grow’ NT schools garden competition

Regular articles written for various publishingsMilyakburra School Blog


Quality TeachingGoal: To increase student outcomes by developing teachers knowledge and skills – with a strong focus on well researched best practice. Teacher feedback teacher feedback has shown to be One of the most

significant activities a teacher can engage in to improve student achievement (Hattie,1992)

Weekly timetabled learning togethers Shared leadership Recruitment and retention of quality staff professional learning Using data to identify needed teacher support Specialised support staffDeveloping Indigenous education leaders

Improving Student

Outcomes

Learn Together

Plan TogetherTeach, Assess

and Report Together


Indigenous Teaching Staff on Teaching and Learning


Student outcomes

READING

Year Level 2008 Mean 2009 Mean 2010 Mean

M A M A M A

Year 3 4.82 400.5 3.3 410.8 206.3 414.3

Year 5 No data 90.2 493.9 296.9 487.4

Year 7 150.3 536.5 151.9 541.1 306.1 546

NAPLAN results show that considerable improvements have been made over the last three years. However we still have a long way to go to reach out goal that all students achieve at least minimum benchmark. Teacher assessment on Individual students have shown that those students attending school 90% or more have made significant advances in both literacy and numeracy.


Community Challenges

Remoteness – expense and access- Limits availability of support and services - Limits students access to different learning contexts - Difficult to get quality staff commit to long term

Size - limited infrastructure - often not included in plans (not a 20 20 town)

Accommodation- Limited Housing

Communication- No mobile service - Community members have no access to Internet in their homes.


How do these impact on Teaching and LearningMiddle and Senior Years

Remoteness and size

•Middle Years and Senior years – Retention, engagement.

Why does this

impact

•Students looking for bigger and better things – not available on Island – become more transient.

•Limited access to employment pathways on Island

Thinking Big

Possible

solutions

•Residential College built on Groote Eylandt – giving students access to a wider range of educational facilities and learning contexts close to home.


How do these impact on Teaching and Learning

Families with young children

Remoteness and Size

•Young families with Children 0-4 years

Why does this

impact

•Limited support to families with young children – most important stage of development – best time to engage families in supporting their children's learning.

Thinking Big

Possible

solutions

•Funding sourced so support services can be delivered.

•Extension of FAFT and PACE programs to include Milyakburra community.



Support Services

Accommodati

on

•Limited Accommodation for Support Services and Teacher Accommodation

Why does this

impact

•Accommodation shortage - inadequate support visits.

•Increased enrolments and wider range of ages – 3 teachers employed – two education houses – impacts on quality recruiting.

Thinking Big

Possible

solutions

•Increase infrastructure to accommodate youth support.

•Additional teacher house built.


How do these impact on Teaching and LearningLearning and Social Opportunities

Remoteness and Size

•Limited Learning and social opportunities

Why does this

impact

•Learning experiences limited – need to expose students to mainstream culture and language – nowhere to use English except at school.

•Limited employment pathways

•Limited infrastructure for VET training

•Limited activities for youth after school / in holidays – very sparse and inconsistent

•Social experiences – students limited opportunities to participate in variety of activities – ie Sporting Teams etc

Thinking Big

Possible

solutions

•Regular travel service between Groote and Milyakburra

•Residential campus on Groote

•Source special additional funding to cover travel expenses so participation in these events isn’t reliant on ‘if our budget allows or can we get sponsorship’.

•Provision for consistent youth development activities in out of school hours.



Access to Technology

Communicati

on

•No phone coverage

•No internet access in wider community

Why does this

impact

•Current technologies not available for student learning

•Student learning is limited to the classroom – family unable to support technology learning in the home – no access.

Thinking Big

Possible

solutions

•Upgrade communication infrastructure so next G service can be accessed

•Communication centre built for community use – internet access


Community Comments ‘We need our kids to be strong with education because one day they are going to run our communities’ Eric Wurramara – community leader

‘I am going to come to school everyday to get clever, yeah when I am big I am going to be fighter pilot and make big money – yeah.. you have to be clever to do that you know’ Jenzel Lalara 11 year Student

‘It is important for the kids to know both ways – they need to be strong in Anindilyawka way and strong in English way’. Morgan Wurramara community leader

‘Kirsten – I want to learn now can you send me to boarding school. I go little bit silly but now it is too boring, now I want to get job, to learn…. too boring now’ - 18 year disengaged Milyakburra youth


Question from community member?

‘Why is it that when Indigenous children go to school everyday and they learn lots, they know, but then when they finish school they do nothing - just sit around , not working ? I have seen this all over’ Violet Huddleston


Can you help us improve education and social

outcomes for Milyakburra youth?

We would like to hear your ideas and thoughts.

Please email Kirsten [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Thank you to all of our Partnerships

ANGLICARE NT

http://www.cdu.edu.au/

http://www.gtnt.com.au/

http://www.bhpbilliton.com/

http://www.aflnt.com.au/index.php?id=124