Eight Indigenous students from Central Australia have been rewarded for their excellent school attendance with trips to attend Richmond’s next two AFL games in the 2011 season.
Four students and a teacher from Gillen Primary School in Alice Springs, will spend two days in Melbourne this week, where they will be involved in a number of activities, including participating in the Long Walk and watching the big 2011 Dreamtime at the G match between Richmond and Essendon.
The following week, four students and a teacher will travel from Mutitjulu School, near Uluru, to watch the Tigers take on Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium in Darwin.
These trips are part of the Club’s partnership with Dick Smith and the Federal Government, which aims to boost school attendance throughout Central Australia.
The “Technology in the Territory” program works closely with schools and communities in Central Australia to encourage school attendance, which is adversely affected by a broad range of social and well-being issues. These include transient lifestyles, late nights, inadequate nutrition, exposure to alcohol abuse, violence and over-crowded dwellings.
School attendance rates for Indigenous Australians in Central Australia vary from 81.1% in Alice Springs, down to just 62% in remote areas. These figures are significantly lower than the school attendance rates of non-Indigenous Australians in the region, which are 91.6% in Alice Springs and 90.3% in the remote areas.
There are four main components of the Technology in the Territory program:
1. A primary school program, delivered by Richmond’s Alice Springs-based program officer, which focuses on health, education, employment and leadership. The sessions delivered at each school are based around both theoretical and practical learning.
2. Web-cam sessions, where Richmond players speak with students from schools in Central Australia via web-cam on a range of issues identified by the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training (DET). These issues include health, physical activity, belonging and stressful situations. This provides students with an added incentive to attend school and demonstrate good behavior. It also helps their self-confidence by learning to speak to people they are not that familiar with.
3. A Rewards and Recognition program, where students with excellent school attendance and leadership skills are selected to attend a four-day camp in Melbourne. The camp, run by the YMCA, focuses on leadership and reinforces the messages taught throughout the school program. Schools will receive awards, such as computers, ipods, cameras and sports equipment, that can be given to students for improved school attendance and behavior. Those teachers, who display an outstanding commitment to Indigenous education, also will be rewarded. As part of this Rewards and Recognition program, students and teachers will receive trips to Melbourne and Darwin to experience an AFL match day with the Tigers.
4. Player trips to Central Australia, with senior Richmond players travelling to the region twice during the year to visit schools whose students have demonstrated improved attendance and behavior. The Tiger players reinforce the messages taught in the schools program.
More than 1000 students in 20 primary schools throughout Central Australia are involved in the program activities, which have been developed with the full backing of the NT Department of Education and Training.
Although in its infancy, the program is making pleasing progress, with Richmond receiving favorable feedback from many of the schools involved.
“The Tigers’ program really offers something different and very worthwhile. For this reason we see the program as an interesting educational exercise rather than just a reward,” said Leonard Freeman, the co-principal of Areyonga School.
And, Zania Liddle, the principal of Ti Tree Primary School said: “Students at Tree give up their play time to participate in the program. They have done so willingly and this shows they are prepared to extend themselves for opportunities that are special. The Tigers’ interaction with the students has been great. A big thankyou from the Ti Tree mob.”
From 2011-13, the partnership between Richmond and Dick Smith aims to achieve the following outcomes:
• 216 days spent delivering programs on health and education in primary schools.
• 36 days spent delivering programs on leadership and employment pathways in secondary schools.
• More than 12,600 students involved in the programs.
• 60 Indigenous students participating in a four-day leadership camp in Melbourne.
• 24 schools, and more than 120 Indigenous students, given the opportunity to build relationships and engage with Richmond players through the Technology in the Territory program.
• 20 Indigenous students experiencing a Tigers’ match-day at the MCG or Darwin.
The Richmond-Dick Smith partnership is already making an important contribution to achieving these outcomes and improving the overall welfare of students in Central Australia.
