School attendance champions

In 2020, TITEB committed to increasing school attendance on the Islands from 58.6% to 70% by 2023. We are proud of our RSAS and SNP staff who have worked tirelessly towards achieving this goal.

In 2021/22 FY, the average attendance rate across both Islands was 61.75% while on Melville Island attendance was 70.5%. Congratulations to Milikapiti and Pularumpi schools for this excellent result, in particular Milikapiti School where attendance increased from 63.7% to 72% in the last 3 years.

Click to see a comparison between Tiwi Islands, NT and National averages:

Children want to go to school when they feel a sense of belonging. It stands to reason that the more parents and families get involved with school, the more the children will like they belong. Our RSAS Yellow Shirts and SNP staff are just some of the Tiwi parents and family members who provide children with this strong sense of belonging. They work closely with the schools to develop and implement strategies to encourage regular school attendance.

For example, Yellow Shirts Day (pictured) is very popular with children, as families join in celebrating the first day of school with an early morning parade and delicious community breakfast. At Wurrumiyanga, the Futures Expo (pictured) has a similar community feel, bringing together 45 stallholders (schools, local providers and visiting services) to showcase education and inspire our future leaders.

At Melville, the ‘80% Attendance AFL Match’ incentive program is also noteworthy. Leading up to the game, students were monitoring their own attendance to make sure they received an invitation to compete. Approximately 60 students from the two schools reached the entry requirement of 80% attendance!

At Pirlangimpi and Milikapiti, our SNP teams underpin all this good work, providing daily meals and snacks for students (pictured) and health education for the school community. They also cater for Yellow Shirts Day, swimming carnivals, the AFL match and other community events.