Areyonga School has a long list
13 February 2024
Staff, students and the community at tiny Areyonga School in Utju, and home to the Anangu people two-and-a-half hours' drive from Mparntwe (Alice Springs), are excited about the possibilities ahead with full funding.
Areyonga, which has 30 preschool and primary students, was one of the first five bilingual schools in the Northern Territory and earlier this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Pitjantjatjara-English program.
The school’s federal budget allocation of $430,000, to be spent within 12 months, was a surprise but staff and the community have immediately set to work on plans for its use, says Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff) and Anangu Elder and former principal Tarna Andrews.
Andrews has been teaching at the school for almost 40 years, first as an assistant teacher, then teacher and later as the principal. Today she is still working as an assistant teacher at Areyonga. In other words, she says, she grew up in a bilingual school.
She says the extra funding will make a big difference to the delivery of the school’s literacy and cultural programs.
Principal Toby Brown says the funding also means that a number of long-term casual staff can be made permanent.
“This money will be really valuable to fully fund the school staff and it’ll mean extra literacy workers in the school so we can really work on the Indigenous languages culture program,” he says.
Brown says the 50-year anniversary was a “huge milestone” for the community and the school and that everyone is keen to see the bilingual and bi-cultural programs continue.
“For many of the students, English is their second or third language. We’ve found that if we teach students strong Pitjantjatjara reading and writing skills, then learning to read and write in English comes a lot more easily,” he says.
Until now, the school has never been certain of the amount of funding it would receive each year because of the Northern Territory’s effective enrolment model that provided funding only for the number of students who attended the previous year. The NT government has promised to end this funding model by 2025.
“We’d never know whether the school was going to be fully staffed in the next year so staff have been on casual contracts for year after year. For example, currently we have only one literacy specialist working with our teacher-linguists but, in the past when funding has been better, we’ve been able to have two or three specialists to really bolster the program, create resources and mentor junior Pitjantjatjara teachers,” says Brown.
The funding will also provide support to allow all the students to go out on Country together.
The learning on Country program, supported by Elders, is central to the school’s teaching.
“The Elders have so much knowledge about looking after and caring for Country, they’re the people we should be listening to. We’re getting some really great results with the program,” says Brown.
“Learning on Country is where our students thrive.”
Brown says the school is the central hub of the community.
“Because we’re a bilingual and a bi-cultural school, and the students' language and culture is so valued and talked about every single day, the community is very engaged with the school.
“People just pop in, whether it’s just for a cup of tea or to check on their student’s learning. We’re an amazing little school,” he says.
“Hopefully the government sees that we need this amount to run a fully functioning school and our funding will continue to increase so that we can keep these programs going,” Brown says.
Andrews agrees, saying the extra funding is vital to support the cultural and language programs.
“We’ve written a list on the whiteboard of all the things we’re going to do with the money and it’s a long list!”
By Tracey Evans
This article was originally published in the Australian Educator, Summer 2023
